Unexpected Turns In Life
by MimiMika
Summary: Mika is a hyperactive, moody, Mary-Sue crybaby that many in the Sengoku Jidai find intolerable. But as she spends time with Sesshoumaru and eventually Bankotsu, she and others learn the greatest lesson of life; to face it, proudly and strongly.
1. Episode 1: What Has Started

Episode 1: Where the Story Starts

"Inuyasha. Stay." Kagome's voice was threatening and dangerously soft.

"Wait, Kagome, just listen to me! You can't go!" Inuyasha's tone, however, was whiny and wimpy. Very unconvincing, if he wanted Kagome to stay and continue on their quest.

"I have to go," she huffed. She turned around, swinging her flattened yellow backpack onto her back.

"Why? We just finished recovering! The trail's still fresh!" Inuyasha leaped to her ankles and stood up in front of her, hands on his waist. "You're just being lazy!"

The fifteen-year-old girl glared at him. She did not move a muscle. "Inuyasha. My hair is stinky, I haven't bathed in three weeks, all my clothes have holes in them, my socks are full of dirt and leaves, and my textbooks are ALL BURNED UP!" She took down her backpack and pulled out several weathered textbooks. They were so unrecognizable; it was hard to believe they were even _books_.

"Look, Inuyasha. THEY'RE BURNED! AND I HAVE A PRACTICE EXAM TOMORROW!"

"Kagome—" His protest was futile. Kagome's mouth was already forming that cursed word.

".. OSUWARI!"

The hanyou was dragged down onto the floor, migraines and back aches creeping up his spine. As Kagome stepped over him intentionally, he tried to grab her leg and prevent her from leaving. Little did he suspect, Kagome was planning to punish him some more.

"Osuwari," she spat.

"Kagome, l—"

"Osuwari!"

"Stop it! I—"

"OSUWARI!"

"KAGOME!"

"OSUWARI! OSUWARI!"

By now, the hole in which Inuyasha had created due to his constant falling was huge. His face was red with new bruises and blood that gushed through his nose. He looked so… pitiful.

With a "hmph", Kagome leaped into the well, her thick, black hair flying behind her as she traveled back to her time. When her loafers reached the gritty ground of her shrine's well, she began to climb up on the ladder her grandfather had so thoughtfully put there for her. Slowly, but surely, she arrived at the welcoming light of the present.

Souta, Kagome's younger brother was waiting for her today. He had Buyo, the family fat cat, in his arms.

"Welcome back, Onee," he greeted.

Kagome looked skeptical. "What's this? You're actually welcoming me back."

"Aw, Onee, don't be so mean."

"No, seriously, what do you want?"

Souta blushed. "Well…"

"Oh, not again. I played that video game for hours last month!"

"But you're so good at using the bow," he protested, following Kagome out of the shack and into the house. She dropped her yellow bag onto the shoe rack tiredly and began to pull off her shoes.

"That's because I do use a bow in the Feudal Era."

"I hear you suck at it," he said, rubbing his nose. His cheerfulness agitated Kagome. It also alerted her.

"Who told you that?"

"Inu-nii," Souta replied immediately.

The Japanese teenage made a mental note to confront this matter to that insolent hanyou later. "Is Mama home?"

"Yeah, she's in the living room with Jii-chan. We're also going to have dinner soon," he added, gesturing to the simmering smell in the kitchen.

Kagome took in a deep breath. She hadn't been at home for such a long time. She missed the lemony smell Mama gave when she walked by and the eccentric babblings of her grandpa. Smiling at her younger brother affectionately, she rustled his hair and strolled into the living room. Sure enough, Jii-chan and Mama were sitting together, Mama knitting, and Jii-chan examining one of the family's "great" treasures.

"I'm home, Mama," Kagome said. Mama looked up right away and grinned at her daughter.

"As I noticed. Are you going to take a bath?"

Kagome nodded, picking up a piece of lint from her sleeve. "That would be great. But dinner's almost ready, isn't it?"

Her mother simply continued to smile. "We can wait a little bit longer, can't we, Jii-chan, Souta?"

Souta pouted. He was actually quite impatient to start eating. As for Kagome's grandpa, he was too preoccupied with an ancient tooth. Kagome waved her hand in front of Jii-chan until he looked up. Instantly, he shoved the tooth into her face.

"Kagome," he began, "I made a shocking discovery! This tooth might have come from that… that boy with white hair that comes here sometimes! Look, isn't this canine stunningly similar to…"

Kagome was already upstairs. "I won't take too long Mama!"

"All right Kagome," Mama yelled after her. She turned to Jii-chan, her smiling face unchanged. "She's going through that stage, after all."

Jii-chan shook his head. "Oh boy."

~O~O~O~O~O~

The sound of the rushing water was calming. Combined with the rising steam, Kagome would've fallen asleep if she didn't go in slowly. Carefully, she stepped in and let out a relieved sigh that she had been holding in. So many things had happened, yet she could barely remember a time she got a break.

First, the Shichinintai had raged war upon them after Naraku had cunningly revived them. The seven brothers were a tough group. Only human, but so strong, so strong that even Inuyasha had a struggle. No, it wasn't only Inuyasha—it was everyone that was chasing after Naraku.

Kagome sunk deeper into the water. No matter how comfortable she was at home, the troubles of the Sengoku Jidai kept coming back to her. Like Inuyasha's face when he learned that Kikyo had almost died…

She shook her head and tried to think of something else. Her hand slid down to her ankles, where the scars of the Stone Oni's acid had affected her. Even though Kaede-baa-chan had given her some medical herbs to rub on the wound, it sometimes still stung her in a way a bee would sting. Good thing it was only a slight pain.

She laid her head against the coolness of the faucet and held a hand before her. How long had it been since she was traveling with Inuyasha and her friends? Fifty days? Fifty weeks? Maybe… a year?

One thing for sure, she would not know what to do once the journey ended. She would have to choose between the life in the present, the life she was supposed to lead, and a life in the past that had already come and gone.

She wondered if Kikyo ever had these thoughts when she was alive. Back then, when she was going to make the decision about the Shikon no Tama and Inuyasha. Did she ever have any hesitation? Then, Kagome realized that her love would've brought her to make the decision to become "human" with Inuyasha no matter what.

Love was a strong thing.

A very, very, very strong thing.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"This mountain is sure ugly," a miko said, brushing her hand absentmindedly against the cool stone of the mountain wall. She lifted her head toward the blue sky and licked her dry lips. When had she had a drink?

Shaking her head at her bad memory, she tried to keep a reminder that she needed to find lodging and water soon. She crossed the rocks of the mountain and followed a thin trail toward an open space of trees. As she did so, the leaves were tussled and danced with the wind. The chilling, yet homely breeze swam through the tresses of her black hair and then left without another sound.

Strangely, the miko always thought of the wind, the trees, and the ground as her companion. After all, throughout her life, no one ever traveled with her. She was a single, lone traveling miko that never asked for assistance. But that was the one thing she was dying for.

She sighed. It was strange indeed. This desire for someone had never been so strong except today. Maybe it was the wind that made her think this way.

Partially, she knew that this desire was always there. It was always there, ever since she woke up one day, forgetting the surroundings around her and seeing only the light that the sun kissed her with. This miko was struck with complete amnesia. Luckily, the amnesia was kind; it left her name and her profession with her.

When had the amnesia taken place, she, of course did not know. How could anyone know?

_Either way, _she thought, _it's about sunset now. I REALLY need to find a place to stay. _And tonight, she was not going to spend it in a tree away from the pestering youkai that liked to braid her hair into unmanageable knots. Looking up, the miko beamed when she saw the shadowy outline of a village peep in.

"Yes," she said to herself with enthusiasm. "I am saved!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Ah, miko-sama!" The villagers' voices were desperate but soothing at the same time. People… there were people instead of rocks in front of her now!

The miko quickly ran over to their side and asked for their situation. They stuttered and stammered, but it was clear that kitsune youkai had overrun their village. Nodding as they spoke, she glanced at the village and saw that it was brimming with furry orange tails and sly foxes that seduced the younger, naïve men.

"Leave it to me," she said, pushing up a falling sleeve. "You got a weapon?"

One of the villagers handed her a well-worn out bow. "All we have is this. The kitsune stole everything else."

The miko's confident almost faded. But she reminded herself just in time that she was their only hope. She falsely strutted with pride to the bow and grabbed it. "Ah, the bow. My best friend in the times of war." She turned her back to the others and started pulling at the string. "Now how do I use this baby?"

"Ara," one of the foxes exclaimed. "It's a girl!"

The miko almost yelped and held the bow before her comically. "B-Back away, now! I have a bow and I'm not afraid to use it! In fact, with one strike, I can ship you all to kingdom come!"

The foxes laughed and sneered at the trembling miko. "Ha, ha. She says she can blow us all up!" They jeered at her with their dull, but annoying claws. "Try, try!"

With a growl, she stuck her hand out to the villagers. "ARROW!"

"Yes, miko-sama!" An arrow was slammed down into her slender fingers. She winced as she held it childishly to the bow. She tried to connect it and only ended up dropping it to the ground. She could only grin weakly now, her hands shaking as she tried to aim it at the youkai.

Finally, when she managed to put the arrow on the string, she shot the arrow at the kitsune that had its tongue sticking out. However, it was apparent that she put or had no strength whatsoever and the arrow was as easy as taking candy from children to dodge. With a swift spin of its tail, the kitsune jumped up, avoiding the sailing arrow and jumped against the air to propel itself at the miko.

Screaming like a maniac, the stupefied miko stood stock still as the kitsune landed on her head and began to twirl her around by her black ponytail. Soon, the miko and the fox was a blur until one of the villagers bravely threw a shovel at the kitsune. It hit the fox accurately in the sensitive part of its stomach and threw it all the way to its fellow foxes.

While the foxes were busy tending to the recently injured, the villagers hurried to the miko's side and helped her up. Her eyes were like circles as she held her hands out before herself, trying to see where she was. She felt so disoriented…

"Miko-sama, are you okay?" one of the worried villagers' asked.

The miko responded gradually as she rolled her neck around and around to get the dizziness away. "Y… yeah… sorry, I… I've never… been… good with foxes…"

"Maybe we should call for help. Oi! You over there! Get some more shovels! We're going to chase these youkai out of our home! And you, by the house! Get some herbs! The miko-sama has been stunned!"

"Everyone…" The miko smiled. "I swear… I'll get those youkai out for you!" Standing up due to pure will, she snatched the fallen bow from the ground and tried her hand again. "Arrow, please!"

When the arrow was in her hand, she put the end with the feather on the string and began to pull on the string. "Take this, you stinky foxes!"

She released her hold on the arrow and watched as it soared through the air, hitting beside the youkai and liberated a massive amount of spiritual energy. The light from it nearly blinded the villagers and the foxes, and even ended up blowing the roofs off the huts. But the light was warm and pure… innocent and totally joyful like the miko that had created it.

When the light disappeared, the foxes scampered out of the village in fear of being hit by that light. Smiles and hugs were exchanged with the anxious villagers, while the miko was being praised by the others who already knew their loved ones were safe.

The miko was so happy. For once, she didn't have to be alone.

Alone.

That word itself was scary. And soon, even though the miko really wished that she didn't have to go, the villagers bid her farewell.

As the miko left the village perimeters and started heading into another mountainous terrain, she glanced at the red bow that the villagers had given her as a gift. At least she wasn't _completely _alone.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Night had settled in by the time the miko walked seven miles. She laid her head against the trunk of a tree and let the fire warm her as she just sat there. She didn't move. The only thing she let take action was her lungs, which caught every particle of oxygen that passed by, turned it into carbon dioxide, and then released it back out through the miko's nostrils. All the while, little fuzzy bugs illuminating light flew by.

Tentatively, she reached out to touch one of the creatures. It tickled her finger and started to edge up her arm. Giggling, she shook her arm gently. The bug flew away and beckoned more of its kind to come after it. As they flew by, she heard the wind whistle through the hollow areas of the tree.

The tune was sad but sweet at the moment. It went high and then low, then soft, and dramatic at one point. The bugs surrounded the tree that was wind-blown and let the wind play with them. Like dancers, they twinkled brighter and brighter until the wind stopped. Then the bugs' light faded, their bodies growing darker as they hovered closer to the ground. Soon, the bugs were but corpses among the grass.

The miko blinked once, then twice. She moved toward one of the bugs that were half-way dead, its light so dim you could barely tell it was a living creature. She touched it and gasped when the light gave out, signaling its death.

"So you don't want to be with Mika either," she said, mouthing the last two words of her sentence. She lay against the trunk once more. But she did not sleep.

She was scared that she would fall into one of those endless nightmares. Ever since she lost her past, nightmares about cruelty and betrayal haunted her. They clawed at her sanity and ate away her safety. Often, she would wake up in the middle of the night, crying because she thought she had killed a child.

All of a sudden, before she could think of another sad thought, an aura swept her off her feet. Falling on the burning ashes, she started to yelp in pain as the fire ate away the fabric clothing her back. She kicked and slapped at the floor, scratching so hard at the dirt, the grit made way into her nails.

Then, the fire was blown away by another cold breeze. Along with the breeze was the very same evil aura that had knocked her onto the ground. It seized her and made her vision go all black.

But then, it stopped. The aura went away and soon, the only thing left of what had happened was the miko lying on the ashes, face pale and perspiration dripping down her face.


	2. Episode 2

Episode 2: Never Run From an Enemy

Mist always formed on this side of the mountain. An icy, white cloud it was, surrounding everything and consuming it at the same time. The air was damp and you knew if you walked into this mist. Water particles would form on your arm, quickly making you over-hydrated. Soon, you would be a dead man or woman in seconds.

But not for Sesshoumaru—tall, proud, and deadly Sesshoumaru, the son of Inu no Taishou. A cold-blooded killer who would do anything to get what he wanted, he was someone to be feared. Even with one arm, he was a formidable opponent. After all, his paralyzing and menacing gaze was also another thing to factor in his scariness.

Another trait that made him so undeniably strong was that he showed no emotion. This man, no matter what corner you pushed him in, he would never yell or grit his teeth in frustration. He was one cool customer. And so, when he walked into this mist that was supposed to freeze you to death, he acted as if it was a sunny day, sun shining and all.

Strangely, he had companions traveling with him. A small green imp youkai by the name Jaken, a little human girl named Rin, and a two-headed dragon-like beast Rin named Ah-Un. They were cheerful and emotional unlike their alpha leader. It was wonders to how the lone dog could tolerate them and them tolerating him.

But nevertheless, today, they followed him loyally into the mist. As soon as they did so, Sesshoumaru stopped. Why did he stop? There was no reason to stop. The mist would never harm Sesshoumaru's supernatural, immortal-like body. Maybe he was tired? No, Sesshoumaru never got tired. Then, perhaps he sensed Naraku?

Naraku. That name would probably at least stir up a disgusted face among several people, one of the persons being Sesshoumaru. A nasty villain everyone set sights on to kill.

Bravely, Jaken opened up his beak mouth and asked, "Sesshoumaru-sama, why did you stop?"

The daiyoukai did not reply. His head was slightly tilted upward, which meant he was probably analyzing his surroundings with his god-like nose.

He slowly separated scent from scent. The fresh smell of leaves and trees were behind him, while the moist water was from the mist. A scent of mild flowers from the flower field Rin played in two days ago was coming from her. The usual youki came from Ah-Un and Jaken. But there was something else within all these scents.

"Jaken," he said, his voice firm and never unwavering. "Stay here."

"H-Hai," Jaken replied faithfully. He watched Sesshoumaru take a step forward. "Um, Sesshoumaru-sama!"

Sesshoumaru stopped once more. This meant he was going to allow Jaken one more sentence.

"Do you mean right here? Like, right, right here?"

The tall, humanoid youkai turned his head enough so that Jaken could see his golden irises. "Yes Jaken. Right there. Don't move. If you do, I may have to kill you."

The old "I may have to kill you" threat was still effective. Straightening up, Jaken saluted Sesshoumaru and then clambered up Ah-Un's back next to Rin for protection.

Sesshoumaru continued on forward, the mist soon enveloping his figure within its white stomach.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Mika, the miko who had so clumsily dealt with kitsunes the day before, woke up with a start. Her back was uncomfortable—something hard was poking her. Sitting up, she yawned and rubbed her eyes. She twisted her body around so that she could see what she had been sleeping on. It turned out that she had not moved ever since the aura came and froze her onto the campfire.

She got off the ashes and started brushing off soot when she realized that everything, save for her bow was gone. Frantically, she peeked around the tree trunk where she had put the trivial amounts of rations the villagers had given her. Nothing. The tree was bare.

Had robbers passed by and took her stuff while she was knocked out? Mika spun around and checked the fireplace. Maybe she had been sleeping on the sack or something. It was nada there too. Sighing, she slammed her back against the tree trunk, depressed and feeling quite foolish. How was she supposed to survive now?

Unless a youkai came by and reaped her good-for-nothing life, she would have to endure a week at least until she reached salvation, a village where they might spare some food. She thought about gathering some food for herself, but her hunting skills had always been poor. Her eyes glanced at the bow. Without arrows, catching even the slowest deer would be impossible.

"But I can't give up," Mika told herself. "I never give up!"

But her lonely voice amongst the millions of trees seemed to punch at her statement and confidence. Dropping her shoulders and sighing, she picked up the bow and started to head toward the next mountain, hoping there were nearby streams or ponds to drink from. She was becoming increasingly thirsty, her throat parched from air.

Just then, a sparkle of blue caught her eye. Immediately, she let her face take on a smile as she approached it with vigor. Kneeling down, Mika set down her bow and dipped her hands into the cool liquid. She was about to take a drink when the cup of water just happened to show a tint of red.

Frowning, she held her hands toward the sun. The specs of blood were certainly mixed in. She dropped her hands at a lower angle. By now, it was clear that the river was red. She let the water slip from her fingers and stood up, looking grim in the direction of where the river was coming from.

Picking up her bow, she started to walk toward the trees covering the river. Instinct told her to be silent as a cat, so within a minute or two, her footsteps were soundless. Her black hair that tickled her face did not tempt a squeak out of her throat. It was just blending in with nature.

Then, the undistinguishable cry of a human came from the trees she was nearing. She opened her mouth to gasp from surprise but bit her tongue fast enough to catch a bit of dialogue that revealed an enemy's location.

"That Hakudoshi brat. Why can't he do his chores himself?"

Mika ducked behind a pair of bushes and peeked through the gaps of the leaves. She could make out a pair of fairly feminine feet. Her eyes followed the feet upward a red and white striped kimono. Then Mika saw the entire figure of the woman. The woman was holding a fan and all around were massive splatters of blood.

The woman took a step forward, revealing a pile of corpses that had stacked upon each other. They all had cuts upon their body, some on their legs, and some on their arms. Quite a few were even missing their heads. Mika had a hunch they were the thieves that had taken her food.

Mika gazed at the blood again. It was so red, so shiny in the sun. You could practically imagine it climbing over the rocks, oozing toward you. The icky thought made her gag. This, in return, made the woman glance over in the direction of the bushes, eyes gleaming with murderous intent. Even the harmless looking fan in her hands seemed dangerous.

The young miko shut her eyes, trying to lose herself in the blackness that shutting her eyes gave. She prayed that her gasp was too low for the woman with the fan to hear. But the woman standing over by the corpses had pointy ears. Did that mean she had extra sharp hearing? _Oh please, _she begged, _please don't let her find me!_

For several minutes, nobody moved. The trees did not rustle, there was no random chirp from a soaring bird, and the goggle-eyed cicadas dared not sing their sad song. It was complete silence. There was no way to tell that anyone existed in this remote area of corpses and two women (or girl, as Mika was only 17).

All of a sudden, the sound of a fan opening and closing reached Mika's ears. The miko's body tensed as she hesitantly turned around to see if the woman was still there. The sound of the fan closing was made again.

Again, and again, the fan closed and opened. _Pap, fwah, pap._ Even the simple sounds of the fabric binding the fan together felt threatening.

Then, it stopped all together. The woman's voice, somewhat seducing and deep, rang out.

"You're not bad at hiding. If I wasn't a youkai, maybe you could've fooled me. But," she said, letting the fan open once more, "I just had enough of this charade. _Fujin no Mai!_"

A new noise, something like fluttering sharp paper shot out toward where Mika was sitting at. Instantly, the bush was tore away while the trees took the painful cuts of the wind blades the woman had thrown out at her. Shrieking, Mika leaped away to dodge another batch of wind blades directed at her.

"W-Why are you attacking me?" she cried out, crashing into the gritty floor as the blades struck near her once more.

"Because you just might be a useful part for Hakudoshi," the woman replied. "_Ryuuja no Mai!_"

This time, instead of semi-circle blades flying at her, youki winds the size of mini typhoons rammed at her. When they didn't hit, they continued to bunch up until they were circling her. Soon, Mika could not be seen, hidden from the view because of the swirling youki winds.

While Mika was stuck inside the winds, the woman (who was obviously Kagura but how would Mika know that?) walked over to the small mound of human corpses. She began to select the healthier men that she had slain and separating them into another pile. Slowly, she picked out the ones with more muscle mass than others.

Then Kagura turned around. She thought she heard a sound from the girl. But usually her youki winds were enough to send anyone to their death. Perhaps this girl wasn't so easy to take down as she thought.

Inside the tornadoes' ring, Mika endured the endless torment of sharp rocks pricking her skin. Time to time, very large blades of youki ripped through the surface of her skin, forcing out amounts of blood to gush out. Soon, Mika was sitting on her knees, grimly facing the direction she had a vibe the woman was standing.

She had to get out. How could she die from a chancily encounter with a youkai woman? She gripped harder onto the bow, which she had preserved and kept safe by shielding it with her body.

"I suppose I have to rely on you now," she said to the bow, even though she knew well that an inanimate object could not respond. Closing her eyes, she ignored the piercing rocks and straightened her back. Even though the rocks were starting to break the bow, she still drew out an arrow from her quiver. With an amateur stance, she let the arrow fly.

The tornado burst from within. Mika, too, soared into the air as the spiritual energy went into frenzy. Soon, her clumped up energy became fireworks, a fountain and shot out blasts after blast, annihilating trees with a simple touch. One of these blasts landed on Kagura's chest, blowing a massive hole through what should've been her heart.

"What the heck—?" Kagura yelled as the light consumed all of her upper body. It began to make way toward her neck until a scythe clawed Kagura into the haven of the corpses.

Mika slammed into the floor headfirst. When she heard the sound of metallic chains, she swiftly sat up. She surveyed the area, blindly missing the boy that had escaped by jumping behind the masses of corpses with Naraku's detachment.

Then, the sound of the very same wind that had caused the many cuts on her arm reached her ears from her left. Standing up with much difficulty, she hurried to examine the corpses, but was only met with an irritating grin from Kagura as she left with Kohaku on her feather.

"Bye bye, stupid miko," Kagura called out from above. Cackling even though the healing hole in her chest was a little painful, she watched with satisfaction of the stupefied miko below. She had honestly thought she was dead, if it weren't for Kohaku. Then she stopped laughing and turned around on her feather to face the little boy.

Kohaku was small and thin as always, despite once being a growing 11-year-old. As usual, his brown hair was tied in a ponytail, his bangs covering the eyes that told a story of a brainwashed mind. He was wearing a plain yukata that cut off at his knees. But somehow, Kagura mused, he was different.

_Did Naraku send him? If he did… does he suspect that I hate him?_ Kagura smirked. Her disdain was quite obvious when it concerned Naraku. After all, Naraku was a lying cheat, a swindling youkai that promised death when he said he'd give peace. She considered asking Kohaku, but then remembered at the right time that he was just a brainwashed boy who never spoke. It was pointless to even try. So she turned around again, facing the wind, wondering about the grim possibilities before her.

Back where Mika was at, she grimaced as she collected the measly rations the dead thieves had stolen the day before. As disgusting as they smelled and looked, Mika was hungry. With relish she never thought she would receive from eating stale rice cakes, the food soon disappeared into her stomach. She lay down on the floor and turned away from the corpses for a mild nap.

All of a sudden, the very same aura that knocked her out last night swept by again. Like the haunting wind Kagura summoned as her weapon, it blew and tangled Mika's hair. Trembling, the miko felt the food she ate turn in her stomach. In fear, she stood up and made way into the trees.

She had to get out. She had to leave that aura. She was going to vomit, roll over, heavens know what vile thing could happen if she felt that aura any longer. Then, when she was a good distance away, she forgot her broken bow—yes, broken, but a better weapon than her bare hands.

Gulping in the air that she was trying to escape, she mulled over the options of running to a nearby village without stopping. It was a sound notion, but if youkai came along, she was dead in three seconds flat. If she went back, the source of this evil aura might come and seize her. She would still be dead.

"So, either way I'm dead." Mika scratched her head. Nah, she'd take the chance and sprint the way to a village. She took in a deep breath and started her marathon.

Soon, the world was whipping by her. The greens and the browns blurred to a gray. Mika began to giggle. Despite her loneliness, she was pretty lucky. She had encountered nothing so far. Perhaps if she could continue at this pace, she would find not only a village, but a spring. An _onsen _would really hit the spot. Sighing, she thought it was a piece of cake—or a rice bowl, since they didn't have cake—

"How adorable, a little miko. Can I play with you, little miko?" A cackle surrounded her from all sides, leaving no trace to the person.

_It's the evil jyaki! I-I'm going to die! _Still running, Mika decided to block out the laughter with her squealing. She refused to stand her ground, but she didn't want to die. _Isn't there a way to avoid this without fighting?_

"Heh heh," the voice said. A tentacle sprouted before her, just a tiny limp. It was not effective in stabbing her or producing a bruise on her knee, but it did trip her. Now, she was really squealing. As she landed on her face and hid in the sods of wet leaves, pebbles, and creepy-crawlies, Mika began to calculate how long she was going to live. Then she stopped altogether when the voice talked some more.

"Hiding, are you? And I thought we could become such good friends." The tentacle that tripped her slid around her neck and pulled her off the ground. "Open your eyes, my lovely girl. I'm not ugly at all."

_I wish I could trust those words_, Mika thought as she opened her eyes anyway. She screamed at the sight of Naraku.

After all, he WAS ugly. But not only that. He was creepy in every way possible. He had a humanoid shape for the main body, a handsome face worthy of a prince, and wore expensive noble clothes, but behind him was an entire accumulation of tentacles, pointy bones, and discarded flesh of youkai he had not an idea to do with. Right now at moment, his dark eyes shadowed by his black bangs, were locked upon the figure he lifted up with one of his slimy tentacles.

"_Oya_? Has my guest lost the ability to speak?" He sneered at the squirming Mika. His words were like a shark circling its doomed prey, pleased at the misfortune its presence caused. Sometimes the words would snap and bite, purposely very close, only to scare the prey some more.

Mika's not-so-vicious words bit back. "Ahem, is this how my host should treat me?" When she finished, the tentacles increased in pressure.

"Actually," he said, his tongue slithering over his teeth as he pronounced his intention, "my guest has yet to arrive. Though I assume he will be far from pleasant."

"Baloney! You're just a lump of evil! Who'd visit you?"

"Oh, my dearie, a lot people do. In reality, they search the entire continent just for me. And when they do… they always seem so disappointed at the fact that I haven't a better setting for them. It's not my fault they crash down everything I do." Naraku let out another one of his infamous "heh heh heh".

Mika narrowed her eyes at this Naraku. She really hated this guy, even though he was just some random youkai. Wait till he tested her fury. "I bet they're just disappointed that you're still alive! Take this!" With a feeble cry, she curled up a fist and held it back. Then she pummeled him with one, two, three, four blows.

Of course, his barrier blocked all that. The ultimate barrier that shielded this coward. "It's useless. You will simply become my fodder."

"Huh? Fodder? You're going to eat me?" Mika exclaimed, sounding like a mouse.

"More like… let you join me." Which pretty meant, "I'm going to eat you."

As soon as he told her what was his other goal was, Mika felt like her neck weighed heavier. She tried to turn around. Her head stayed in place. It wasn't long until her feet drooped and her hands could no longer form fists. Naraku seemed closer than ever…

Suddenly, the air became like tiny blades and needles. The light reflected off the trees became blue and bluer as a wave came closer to them. Then Mika was falling, falling to the floor while Naraku was grinning like a madman grinned when he found another one to prey upon.

"You've arrived, Sesshoumaru," Naraku said.


	3. Episode 3

Episode 3: Strange Enough

_Who?_ Mika sat up and turned around.

There was certainly someone in the distance. As this person breached the mist, Mika was able to clearly see the details and little quirks this person had. It was a man with silver hair that went down all to his waist. His fancy kimono and armor reminded her of a prince. He also seemed to be one-armed and grim, because there was not a trace of a smile on that face of his.

"Sesshoumaru. I must say I'm very happy to see you here before Inuyasha. I'm sure the elder, wiser brother is patient enough to listen to my negotiations?" He smirked and went silent so that Sesshoumaru could answer.

But Naraku was wrong. Sesshoumaru was neither patient nor wiser. Just like his impulsive half-sibling, Sesshoumaru was a man who talked with his blade. Thrusting Tokijin at Naraku's resilient barrier, he glared at him with the ferocity of an aggressive hound (which he was). Naraku shook his head in disappointment.

"Sesshoumaru, haven't you had enough of this futility? No matter how much you pound at it, it's useless!" He let out his treacherous laugh once more and slid a tentacle into the cracks. With his tentacle rooted in securely, he then forced the ground to shake. It wasn't long until the floor gave out; rocks spewing out like a volcano. Knowing danger, which was always nearby Mika, was about to kill someone any moment, Mika quickly got up and tried to leave the scene.

Sesshoumaru ignored the human woman. Right now, he wanted to kill some spider youkai and let off some steam. He charged again and slammed Tokijin onto Naraku's barrier. He was simply blown away by the force of the barrier. But who cares? Naraku, the almighty lump of evil was here. This might be the last chance to rip his head off! Again, Sesshoumaru persisted and swung the blade.

But all the while Sesshoumaru was busy unleashing his fury on Naraku; Naraku himself focused his attention on Mika. She was a human girl… not very attractive and very clumsy. But even she had a talent—the talent to become a tool for him. Naraku knew Sesshoumaru "adopted" a human girl named Rin. Surely by now, he had a teeny-weeny soft spot for humans? Maybe not if he threatened to kill or her or anything…

Naraku faced Sesshoumaru. The daiyoukai's blows were starting to weaken. He was most likely going to think up a way to get his blade near his throat soon. When the brothers actually thought of ways to achieve victory, it was often deadly. _If I can distract him from thinking…_

"Tired, Sesshoumaru? That's very unlike you."

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes, a sign that never meant any good. "You will stay silent." Brandishing the blade before him once more, he leaped into the air, his very being intent on destroying him.

But Naraku simply widened his sly grin; another sign that all his enemies feared. Using the very same tentacles he had caused a mini-earthquake with, he seized the ankle of a desperate Mika, who was so very close to getting out of harm's way. When she realized that she was caught, she quickly scanned the area for a rock or something sharp enough to rid herself of the slimy thing.

Sadly, a second isn't going to do much, let alone helping you save yourself. Dragging the screaming miko back to the scene, Naraku then launched her into the air, right in the direction of a charging daiyoukai. Her skull met Sesshoumaru's metal breastplate, almost fracturing the bone beneath. She instantly lost conscious.

Sesshoumaru stopped in mid-air, just long enough for Naraku to slip away into his limitless supply of miasma.

"Heh heh… it seems that this day was mine, once again."

The daiyoukai scowled and shoved Mika away. As the unaware miko began to tear through the wind headfirst toward the ground, Sesshoumaru raised his arm in the air. He brought down the sword. A light, sort of azure-like, yet it was almost thin and invisible, was released from the tip of the blade. It entered the cloud of shouki.

Seconds ticked by on a clock that didn't exist. Mika had already hit the floor, her body immediately sending pain signals to her brain. Sesshoumaru, who was still in the air, watched as his light become food to the purple poison. Then altogether, the miasma and the light vanished. The daiyoukai let out a breath escape through his nostrils. Naraku's cowardly disappearing acts weren't exactly new. Sticking Tojikin through his obi again, he landed on the floor and was about to walk away when he remembered about Mika.

Not that he had some sudden crush or anything, or that he was interested but he was curious to know if she had some life left in her. He had pushed her away to a possible death from six feet fall, after all. It was worth the five minutes to take a gander. Besides, as useless as Jaken was, Rin was going to be fine…

He walked to the priestess. She was sprawled out on the floor like a corpse who had been played with by a young witch with too much power. Her right arm was almost clutching the dirt in front of her. Her left arm was hidden by her black hair below her stomach. Her legs were in a similar position, while her head was directly facing the dirt. Whichever angle you studied Mika from, she looked dead.

But Sesshoumaru liked to confirm things. "_Onna,_ are you alive?"

For a moment, there wasn't an answer. Then another minute passed. Sesshoumaru grew tired and turned away. When he was far enough that he could barely see her silhouette, he heard a muffled moan. Turning around, he saw the miko struggling to get up.

"That… hurt… you know?" Mika sat up and wiped the trail of blood coming from her mouth. "Oh, gross. Blood tastes so nasty. If only you didn't push me away, then I wouldn't look so beat up."

"It was your fault for being caught."

Mika pouted and glowered over at him. Who did he think he was, blaming it all on her? Her life had been in the palm of his hand—his only hand, at least. She tried to lock her brown but almost hazel-like eyes with his golden ones, but he was far away. Ah well, she was content enough with her glare.

"Excuse me, _oji-san_, but it was NOT my fault. You hear me?" Standing up, only to fall back down, she stabbed a finger at him. "Why did you come anyway? You only made things worse, destroying the place and all with your destructive sword—hey! Where are you going? Don't ignore me, youkai! HEY!"

Without any hesitation, Sesshoumaru perfectly denied Mika's existence. But Mika was not so easily denied. Stubbornly pursuing him, she endured the pain that came when you put pressure on bruising, weak legs. For a while, Mika had a clear view of him, striding ahead as usual. However, after ten minutes or so, they entered a mountain area and the mist consumed him. She was left alone. The sound of wind passing through a hollow object passed by her ears.

She shivered. "H-Hello? Youkai-san? Are you there?" Again, the wind made the creepy whisper. Mika jumped and fell onto her face. As she brushed dirt from her mouth, she began to feel cold. Was mist always this dangerous? Either way, she was actually regretting trying to escape and losing sight of the youkai.

"What should I do?" she whined, to nobody in particular. Surely, the youkai didn't just take flight, did he? What if he was just hiding so that he could eat her? She screamed at the thought and sat down, hugging her shoulders. _What should I do, what should I do? I really got to get out of here or I'll freeze. Or get eaten by a daiyoukai with a fluffy thing on his shoulder._ Mika looked up. Fluffy? Yes, she recalled a tail or some sort on Sesshoumaru's right shoulder.

She pouted as she thought about this tail of his. It was furry all right. Probably warm and soft… come to think of it, that fur thing on his shoulder would be so comforting against her cheek. _That's it. _Mika stood up, swatted away some mist, and determinedly took a step forward. Each time the mist tried to wrap around her, she kicked it away. By doing this, she was able to see faint marks of the daiyoukai's shoes.

She thought if she kept following these footprints, she would soon be face to face with mokomoko-sama. The icy atmosphere would soon be nothing if she had that warm, fluffy thing. But all of a sudden, the footprints disappeared. This was a problem. Mika halted and began to panic once more.

_Uh oh. What do I do now? I don't have a weapon. All I have is my wits. And my insults. _Insults? Another bright idea formed in her head. Yes, she would lure him out with her wits and insults.

She forced herself to put her hands on her waist and declare out loud, "Hey, youkai-san! You think you're all superhuman, huh? Well, in case you forgot, I'm a priestess! You hear that, um, Sesshoutaka! I can beat you up!" Then she waited. The air coiled around her waist and tickled her. She bent over and then realized it wasn't the air—it was the tip of a blade.

"AHH I'M SO SORRY FORGIVE ME!" she blurted out without pause. Cowering on the floor, she peeked at the towering figure behind her. Sesshoumaru was clutching Tojikin very tightly. "Er… I was joking, you know."

"My name is Sesshoumaru. It would do you well to remember that." He narrowed his eyes into that glare again, concentrating all his menace onto Mika. It took nearly all the sanity Mika had left not to beg for death so that she could escape this horrible situation. She nodded swiftly.

Then he started walking. He was about to disappear again when Mika remembered she had to get out of this mist. But she couldn't do it alone without some sort of supernatural being or guide.

"W-Wait! Sesshoumaru-sama! Don't leave me behind in this mist!" She scrambled back onto her feet and chased after him. However, they were already out of the mist by the time Mika had run two yards. Luckily, Mika skidded to a halt before bumping into Sesshoumaru's mokomoko-sama and incurring more wraths from the ruthless daiyoukai.

Nevertheless, Sesshoumaru turned around. The same glare that he gave everyone when he was about to run them through with the sword was what he was giving her right now. All of a sudden, a voice, young and soft spoke from above them.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! _Doko ni iru no? _Sesshoumaru-sama!"

_A girl? _Mika looked around. There was nobody, save for the mist behind them and the trees in front. Then the voice shouted again. The miko glanced up and almost cried when she spotted the voice's source—a little seven-year-old wearing an orange kimono riding a youkai horse of some sort. Next to her was another youkai, a green imp who seemed to be extremely flustered. The youkai landed next to Sesshoumaru.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" The girl was enthusiastic to see the daiyoukai lord. "We were worried about you!"

"I told you to stay where you were, Rin."

Rin pouted. Now that she was on the ground, Mika could see that the girl was truly a darling. With a spunky, adorable round face and a tuft of black hair sticking out of her head, Mika almost thought that she was Sesshoumaru's daughter. But then again, she was a human child and he was a youkai. And the Sesshoumaru, who was so fearsome, almost seemed tame now. In his emotionless face, there was a very tiny hint of amusement—appreciation, sparkling in his eyes.

"_Gomenasai, _Sesshoumaru-sama. But Jaken-sama was scared."

Instantly, the conversation started to get bitter. Sesshoumaru no longer seemed "gentle". Once again, he was the demon Mika was so afraid of. Attention diverted, he walked over to the imp resting on the creature's Rin was sitting on. Sesshoumaru raised his head a little higher, just to create a dramatic effect with the shadows falling on his face. When Jaken realized his master was before him, he looked up and was ten times tenser than he usually felt when he was around Sesshoumaru.

"S-Sesshoumaru-sama! I see you've returned! Please, forgive me for bringing out Rin here, but you see, there were some _chiisana _youkai, and they were going to kidnap Rin and all…"

"Jaken," he said. The imp's very name sent a tremble down his spine.

"_Hai…?_"

But by the time he said "yes" nervously, Sesshoumaru already brought down his fist. As Jaken fell down from Ah-Un, a lump boiling red on his head, Sesshoumaru started leaving once more. Of course, he stopped very soon after to give Jaken the usual threat.

"Jaken, I'll warn you one last time. Do that again and I'll leave you behind… permanently."

The imp gulped. He sat up and nodded, showing that he understood. Then Jaken hurried up and followed beside Rin, who was still sitting on Ah-Un, the horse youkai. All the while, Mika watched with her mouth hanging open. That was natural, for the group was so queer. How could the grumpy, mean Sesshoumaru be so compatible with a tiny human girl? But if that was so, why couldn't she travel with them?

It was a crazy idea, but Mika was lonely. What she wouldn't give for this type of company. Happy, random, and even if she had to be in constant danger because of Sesshoumaru, it was better than risking her chances out in the wild without no weapon or no food. Joining this group was a life-saving moment.

Though deadly anxious, Mika kicked up the courage inside her and followed the group until Sesshoumaru remembered about her. Still walking, he asked, "Why are you still following me?"

"Um, I want to join you guys."

The little girl, Rin, turned around in her seat. Awkward as it was, since Mika's clumsy and messy appearance was something that was hard to ignore, she let out a cry of surprise at Mika. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

"Er, well, that is… your Sesshoumaru-sama saved me, sort of. From this youkai guy, you know?" Mika laughed weakly and smiled at Rin. Rin looked somewhat insecure.

"Save? What a foolish idea," Sesshoumaru exclaimed. "Get lost, before I dispose of you."

_Gosh, this guy is so hard to talk to. Why can't he just say "yes" and be done with it? _Mika frowned and folded her arms. _Think Mika, think! What's my ticket to being safe?_ She stared at the people before her. Considering how Sesshoumaru had abused Jaken, the imp wasn't really going to help. Mika eyed Rin. Though the girl was a child, what could she do? Other than whine and beg…

Mika tapped the little girl's shoulder. Rin almost screamed and fell off, but Mika's wide, desperate smile stopped her from breaking the last straw of tolerance Sesshoumaru had.

"Look, _Onee-san_'s going tell you a joke. Want to hear?"

Rin clenched the reins around Ah-Un. But she nodded uncertainly. Sesshoumaru stayed around to listen as well.

"Once upon a time, there was a jester. He entertained the emperor day and night. One day, the emperor exposed his tricks to all of the people. They started calling him a fraud. Angry, the jester revealed to them that he was a great youkai. He started eating everyone, including the emperor. Then he ate the maids, servants, attendants, and even the emperor's puppy. When he reached the room where he slept in, he ate his fellow jesters. As soon as the head went into his mouth, he turned to the last jester, who was hiding in the corner. He asked him to try the foot. The jester, who was actually a cannibal in disguise, accepted this offer and tried it. The youkai jester then asked, 'It tastes funny, huh?' "

For a moment, Rin was stupefied. She had lost the story around the part about the jester being a youkai. In fact, she was starting to become increasingly wary of this miko. But Mika thought otherwise. When she was done with her tale, she held her stomach and guffawed until her face went red.

"I-It's funny, right?" Mika asked, laughing harder when she said "funny".

Rin blinked several times. "Funny?"

"Funny. It tastes funny. Ahahahaha!" Mika fell to her knees and pounded the floor. Suddenly, the laughing bug bit Rin and she started to laugh too. Soon, the girls were laughing so hard at the bad joke, even Sesshoumaru was bewildered. His open mouth and widening eyes showed that he didn't expect Rin to warm up to Mika with such a horrible story.

Rin wiped away a tear from her eye. The tale had even made her cry. As if kicking for three minutes on Ah-Un wasn't enough. She spun around on Ah-Un so that she could face Sesshoumaru. She was smiling the smile that was only used for persuasion. The daiyoukai braced himself and tried to look composed again.

"Sesshoumaru-sama—"

"No," he cut in.

"_Demo_…"

"No. It's either my sword or my sword."

Mika rolled her eyes toward the sky. _How cliché_, she thought.

"But…!" Rin's eyebrows began to arch.

"Don't whine," Sesshoumaru said. His voice was firm and final.

Just then, Jaken decided to intervene. Tugging on his master's long sleeve, he cleared his throat and proposed: "Sesshoumaru-sama, perhaps it isn't such a bad thing."

"A burden. She's going to be a burden," Sesshoumaru replied. He resumed walking.

"It's only for one day!" Mika called out from the back.

"No," Sesshoumaru repeated.

"PLEASE! EVEN RIN-CHAN SAID SO!"

"No," he said.

"I'll cry," Mika threatened.

"You won't be able to, because your head will be disconnected from your heart then."

"I'll stay in the back. I promise not to do anything. I'll repeat that. _Anything._"

"Breathing is a something," Sesshoumaru countered. He laid a hand on Tojikin. It seemed that he truly wanted to rid himself of this female fly.

Rin jumped off of Ah-Un and hugged Mika's knees. "Sesshoumaru-sama, I'm okay with her. She's not scary like the other people… and she's not an _okami_ either…"

Finally, Sesshoumaru turned away and let go of Tojikin. Without another word, he disappeared among the green trees, walking even faster because he had lost a battle to his adoptive "daughter", who was an inferior human. With his pride wounded, he wanted to be as far as possible from everyone. Including the bugs, which were squashed mercilessly as he grumpily glared at the trees, wishing they'd melt when he looked at them.

In the back, Jaken cleaned a bead of sweat drops on his forehead, while Mika entertained Rin like the jester in her story.

For once, Mika felt less lonely. For one whole day, she could just laugh freely…

~O~O~O~O~O~

It seemed that trees and the darkened sky were the only friends Kikyo ever had. It also made her realize how little she had in life. No, she had no life—all she had left was a shell of what used to be life. Her clay hands only shielded the dirty bones inside. Kikyo was beautiful… but so ugly, so twisted inside.

That's what she was, when she first came out. So sad, so lonely, so empty. Questions, such as why and what, mostly why, had stole every bit of sanity she had within her. Now, watching the young teach the lessons of life once more to her was agony. And relief, for being around the living made her feel alive. But her clay hands, her clay lips, clay eyes… they reminded her everything about death.

_Why am I reminiscing when I could be exacting my revenge?_ Kikyo started to cross a brook, when she stopped to study her reflection. To think that wanting immortality was such a sad thing. Not that Kikyo had ever wanted that. But being granted that… was sad. Everything was sad. She shut her eyes and forced herself over the water. The _Shinidamachu_ chased after her in the air, twirling around her and collecting the souls of other dead women for her. That was sad too.

"Yes, you are sad," Hakudoshi's voice sounded as a large boulder came rolling down her path. Due to her trained reflexes, she easily dodged this by running and hiding behind a tree. As the boulder passed, she drew an arrow and strung it onto her bow.

"Hakudoshi, where are you?"

"Heh heh, over here, misfortunte miko!" This time it was a different voice, a deep, male one. Who was it? Kikyo mentally began counting the voices she heard in life connected to Naraku. There was—

All of a sudden, Kikyo felt dizzy. The ground felt light and soft, as if there wasn't a ground at all. Kikyo blinked once, twice, so that she could properly see what was going on when she realized that there wasn't a ground underneath her feet because she was in the air. To be specific, flying across the air fast and hard, because a fist larger than her waist had been thrust into her stomach.

As the dull, but painful pointy ends of the rocky mountain wall met the back of her skull; the creature that attacked her caught her neck and flung her back to where she had been standing a minute ago. Arrows that had been soaking up her spiritual aura and powers scattered onto the floor, while her bow lay unstrung under back. Her vision escaped her and soon, her mind blanked out.

"That's it, Kikyo? And yet, Naraku still has such trouble with you. He really is weak, isn't he? Hmph. Moryomaru, hurry up and finish her off. She's not good enough to test with."

Obedient as ever, the silent purple being, skin hard as brick, began to stomp his way toward her.


	4. Episode 4

Episode 9: Moryomaru  
Inuyasha jumped up from the branch he was sleeping on. The smell of clay and dead dirt flowed into his nostrils, and he knew immediately who it was. And there was also the smell of youkai surrounding the clay as well.  
"Kikyo?" he said out loud. Miroku awoke from his sudden cry.  
"What's wrong Inuyasha?"  
"Kikyo, she's in danger!" and jumped off without Miroku catching his words.  
"Inuyasha wait! Where are you going?" But by now Inuyasha was far into the distance toward the mountain the sun was rising from.

Kikyo groaned as she struggled to get up. _I can't sleep at a time like this_, she urged herself, and pushed herself off the floor. She could hear Moryomaru's hard footsteps pounding the soft ground, each loud pat louder each second. But no matter how hard she forced her clay body, it would not move.  
"I hope you die in pain, Kikyo," Hakudoshi commented, watching her feeble struggles to get up.  
Moryomaru raised his hand to strike Kikyo, and when he was just an inch from her face, a flash of red and silver tore across his arm, and a minute later, he was staring dumbly at his severed arm. A long sword, almost shaped like a fang was in front of him now. Hakudoshi grimaced at the sight of Inuyasha.  
Inuyasha knelt down to Kikyo and pulled her up. He was still holding her arm when she was standing up.  
"Kikyo, are you alright?"  
"Inuyasha? Is that you? What are you doing here? Where did you come from? Why--"  
"You got talkative all of a sudden. Did he hurt you anywhere?"  
"No, I'm fine." Inuyasha let go of her arm. "Thank you," she added.  
"Well, well, well, I hate to break your romantic reunion, but I think its about time Kikyo and _you_, Inuyasha, to die," Hakudoshi yelled and jumped down, his barrier taking effect already. He let his long scythe fall to the floor and held it like a pointer at Inuyasha. He charged at him and hacked at his right arm. Inuyasha countered and stabbed at his left leg, only to have it regenerating.  
"Kikyo stay back!" Inuyasha shouted, letting his attention drift for a few moments and went back to guarding against Hakudoshi.  
_I'm not going to just stand here,_ Kikyo thought. She drew another arrow, aimed at Moryomaru, let her hand guide the arrow back, and in half a second, the arrow flew at Moryomaru. It struck his head successfully, and tore it off. It fell to the floor, dead.  
Hakudoshi paused from attacking Inuyasha and turned his head to look at the dead monster. _The Oni wasn't enough huh?_  
"Moryomaru, let's go," and they disappeared.  
"Darn them!!!" cursed Inuyasha. He turned on his heel and spotted Kagome, Kilala, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo flying toward them.  
"Inuyasha!" Miroku called out and dropped onto the floor. "You were visiting Kikyo-sama at this time of the day?"  
"NO! I just met Hakudoshi here and this other monster."  
"Really Inuyasha, stop with the lies," Sango said, rolling her eyes.  
"I'm not lying! Why would I have my sword out?"  
"You could have been arguing with Kikyo-sama and then decided to cut her in half," joked Miroku.  
"It's not funny Miroku," Inuyasha snapped and stormed off the other way. Kagome immediately felt her spirits in the downs. She turned to Kikyo, who was staring at the angry Inuyasha and the group.  
"Kikyo, were you really fighting against Hakudoshi?"  
"Yes, I was originally, but Moryomaru, Hakudoshi's new creation attacked me."  
"Moryomaru? Wasn't he the..."  
"He's some sort of youkai bunched up from other Oni."  
"But we met a human who was destroying youkai named Goryomaru!"  
"He could have been using a human body to find out secrets from you," supposed Kikyo, and turned the other way. Kagome felt her heart lifted a bit. _There's no way Kikyo would be lying to me... they weren't meeting after all._ But no matter what Kagome told herself, she felt suspicion and jealousy toward Kikyo.

Episode 10: Feelings Don't Come So Easily  
_Naraku...that guy is suspicious. I need to know more about him._  
Mika was walking beside Hime, thinking, thinking about Sesshoumaru and Naraku. She was thinking about these things to get her mind off of those horrific nightmares. So far it was working.  
"Maybe I could ask someone...who?" _Sesshoumaru_, she thought. _He knew him for a long time I bet. I could ask him._  
Her mind set on looking for this mysterious youkai.  
"I just have to remember how his youki is like..."  
Then like a miracle, she heard his voice in the distance.  
"Knock it off, Jaken," Sesshoumaru's voice said.  
"I'm so sorry Sesshoumaru-sama--OW! YOU UNGRATEFUL DOG--OW! I'M SO SORRY! SO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!"  
Mika ran to her left, with Hime dragging the large cart behind her. _There he is_, Mika thought. Sesshoumaru was hitting his poor servant, and behind him was a little girl sitting on a two headed demon.  
"Sesshoumaru!!!" Mika yelled, and jumped over the rose bush. Sesshoumaru turned around. Jaken, the little demon on the floor next to him yelped and took out his two-headed staff. "Who are you? And how do you know Sesshoumaru-sama's name???"  
"I'm simply going to ask him a few questions, is that so bad?"  
Sesshoumaru walked away from the scene.  
"Yes that is bad, you are a human! No human can talk to him!"  
"Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin called, "where are you going?"  
"She just called his name." Mika pointed out.  
"T-That is a different matter! Rin has nothing to do with this!" Jaken cried angrily.  
"What do you want, priestess," Sesshoumaru exclaimed, piping up suddenly.  
"Can you tell me anything about that Naraku guy? It'll only take a few minutes! You have like millions of years ahead of you," Mika pleaded.  
"No," he replied coldly.  
"Then at least let me talk to your servant. He knows stuff right?" Mika said, shrugging her shoulders and pointing to Jaken.  
"Do what you want."  
"Eh? NO! SESSHOUMARU-SAMA! DON'T LEAVE ME WITH THIS HUMAN!"  
"Too bad," she said, and grinned. She pulled him away from the floor and laughed evilly. "You are coming with me little demon."  
"My name is Jaken."  
"Whatever."

"That's it? He's chasing that baboon guy--"  
"SPIDER! I'M WASTING MY TIME TELLING YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT HE IS A SPIDER!"  
"But he's made up of other youkai right? So, he's chasing Naraku because he kidnapped Rin?"  
"OF COURSE NOT!" Jaken cried and stood up. "Sesshoumaru-sama is chasing him because he hurt his pride."  
"Oh he has pride all right. He's pretty arrogant and evil too," Mika added.  
"Will you stop interrupting me???"  
"Hmm...its clear I cannot talk to you. I guess I'll have to follow you guys--"  
"NO! WE HAVE ENOUGH HUMANS ALREADY!!!"  
"Sesshoumaru won't care, I'm sure," Mika replied, waving her hand up and down. "Its good to have allies anyway."  
"YOU'RE JUST A WEAK HUMAN!"  
"Say that again and you'll be roasted toad! Let me ask myself!" She jumped on his head and ran to Sesshoumaru, who was towering over her. _I'm so short,_ Mika thought bitterly.  
"What do you want? Are you leaving yet?" Sesshoumaru suddenly asked, piling questions on her.  
"No, I think I'm going to follow you. Is that okay?"  
"No," he snapped.  
"Is no the only thing you ever say? I'm not going to bother you. I'm just going to be in the way back where you can't see me."  
"I can still smell and hear you."  
"Pretty please! You won't have to save me or anything!"  
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes and ignored her. He continued to walk.  
"Hey, hey, hey! I wasn't finished speaking! Listen to me!!!" she cried childishly.  
"I can hear you, I'm not deaf. Do whatever you want."  
"ALRIGHT!" Mika ran back to Hime, who was stomping on Jaken sadly.  
"NEIGH!!!" and took another deathly stomp at Jaken's face.  
"You dumb horse!" _STOMP!_ "You insolent, ugly, useless--" _CRUSH!_ "OW! I CAN'T MOVE ANYMORE..."  
"That's what you get for taunting Hime. That's the way to go girl!" Mika said and led Hime away from the toad demon. "Sesshoumaru-sama..." he wheezed weakly, "help me."


	5. Episode 5

Episode 11: Where Are You When We Need You?

Mika was glad she had her way. She had some friends now, or what you would call friends. They weren't really best buddies yet. Mika looked at the sky. It was already dark and covered with stars. Sesshoumaru went off somewhere. And the toad demon was asleep, including the little girl named Rin. It seemed so quiet, so serene. Mika longed to sleep too, but she was scared of those haunting dreams. The fire crackling in the center was calming too.

_Go to sleep, go to sleep,_ the fires seemed to whisper. _Maybe a minute or two wouldn't hurt._ She closed her eyes, and sleep overcame her.

Inuyasha finally came back after a while alone. He was still pouting, but he was teasing Shippo.

"Kagome! Inuyasha is being mean to me!"

"Oh," Kagome replied.

Inuyasha grinned triumphantly. "Your _osuwari_ won't save you now! Ha!"

"Osuwari." Kagome said without emotion.

Inuyasha fell onto the floor, his hair lit by the fire. Soon he heard sizzling at the end of his silver hairs. "AHH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! IT'S BURNING!"

"Ha to you!" Shippo grabbed Inuyasha's fish-on-the-stick and bit into it happily.

"Why you little--"

"KAGOME!"

"Inuyasha, OSUWARI!!!" Kagome shouted. Then a wave of anger burst from Kagome.

"OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI!!!" she screamed and marched away from the campsite. Sango and Miroku sat there, wide eyed.

Sango said, "Never anger Kagome-chan."

Miroku replied, "Very true."

This time, Mika's dream was different. She didn't hear anyone taunting her, or see angry villagers hurting her, or throwing rocks as the other dream showed her. This time, it showed a girl. She had short brown hair that was right above her shoulder, and she seemed like an angel, if only her hair were not brown but blond. She was wearing a red kimono, and in the shadows, she could make out a young man, maybe just 18 years old, staring at her.

_Are they friends?_ Mika thought.  
The girl in the red kimono was walking beside a river, and suddenly a whole bunch of youkai attacked her. The girl tried to run, but her slim legs were not fast enough on the wet mud. The boy in the shadows seemed to gasp as he watched the girl in danger.  
Then the youkai disappeared by a sacred arrow, (Hama no Ya) and the girl seemed relieved. A hand was held out to her, and when she reached to take it, her smile wore off. A face of surprise and fear took the innocence from her, and then she fell into the river. Moments later, Mika could see the blood flowing away from her.

_How...how horrible! Why would anyone..._ Mika said in her mind. Then the view turned from the girl floating in the river and to the killer. It was a girl. She was wearing stained priestess clothes, long black hair tied loosely, and a very satisfied face that was as similar as Mika's.

_I...I killed her? No, no, I don't even know her...I--_  
Without even thinking it, Mika shrieked out loud in the world of reality, and woke the others beside her.

"What is wrong with you??? A second ago you were talking and now you're screaming! You are so irritating!!!" complained Jaken. Rin merely rubbed her eyes.

"I'm sorry...I just..." she began, but knew it was useless. _Maybe I need to see a psychiatrist._

By that time, Sesshoumaru had returned, without any look of lack of sleep. He was probably the most energetic one in the group.

"Why did you scream," Sesshoumaru asked Mika, as Rin and Jaken blew out the flames.

"I had a nightmare, that's all."

"I see." Then he turned and began to walk toward a horrible smell of dead youkai that even Rin could smell.

_He isn't so cruel after all...he seems to worry about everyone in here. _Then she had a crazy thought ramming into her brain. _Maybe that Naraku guy has compassion, if he tried._

She shook her head and took a step forward, following Sesshoumaru into the mist ahead of them.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, where are we going? Where are we? Are you going to visit someone?" Jaken asked.

"Shh!" shushed Mika. She made a gesture at her mouth, as if locking her lips, and threw away an imaginary key. Jaken frowned and let his pace slow down till he was at the way end of the group.

Mika returned her attention ahead. She wasn't used to this quietness, at least not _this_ quiet. And it was not just quiet, it was dead silence. Mika could not even hear the sound of her footsteps. The only thing she could hear was her faint breath, which seemed unreal.

There were no trees in their path at all, and the floor was hard and rocky. _If I tripped and fell onto this floor, I think I would get infections and scars._ She grimaced at that thought.

Ahead of her was the "all-mighty" Sesshoumaru, and more mist. She was getting pretty tired of mist, and would give anything to see something else, even Naraku's twisted face. Then all of a sudden, Sesshoumaru stopped. Realizing he heard or smelled something, Mika held her breath and listened intently for any signs of life.

At first, it was the same silence as a cemetery. But as the minutes rolled by, Mika could hear a distant howl, very much like a wolf, but it was somewhat different from a wolf's voice. It was like the tune from an instrument, like a modern-day tuba, only softer, smoother, and sadder.  
More music from other instruments suddenly took action. Now Mika could hear flutes, more of the distant howls, and wolf calls, loud, deep wails, and a tune from a stringed instrument. The mist grew larger and thicker until Mika could not even see her hands.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Wait for me Sesshoumaru-sama!" yelled Jaken, but all her could feel was the mist. He decided to take a risk and ran forward. He caught someone's leg. He moved his tiny hands up and down.

"Is this you Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"It is certainly not!" piped up Mika and used her instincts to punch at Jaken. But when she raised her arm, she lost interest and was awed by the music again.

Then the music halted. The wails and low howls disappeared from Mika's ears. Instead of music, a woman's voice spoke in her mind, her voice crystal clear.

_Welcome wanderers to my dark castle of death!_

"Um, whoever you are, that sounds incredibly lame," Mika whispered out loud. The voice gasped in her mind.

_How dare you insult me! Fine, welcome to my domain. Better?_ Mika grinned. She heard a grunt, this time from the outside world, not in her head.

"Who are you?"

"You wish to seek me? Come find me, if curiosity takes control of you." Fake maniacal laughter followed.

"Whoever lives here sure is a nut, right Sesshoumaru?"

No reply came from the silent man.

"I said, whoever lives here sure is a nut. Are you there?"

Still no one replied. It stayed silent and cold like a hospital at night.

"Oh brother. Don't tell me you've abandoned us!!!" she screamed. Jaken clung tightly to Mika's legs and screamed with her.

Then a wispy blue flashed across Mika's eyes. A long tail brushed across her shoulder. She jumped in the air and looked around. The mist was still thick, but the shining flying objects could be seen clearly. Snake-like monsters were swimming in the air, trying to bite and cling to Mika like parasites.

"Uh...I hate snakes..." She bit her lip and held her head to the mist-covered sky. She closed her eyes and shrieked, "WHERE ARE YOU SESSHOUMARU WHEN WE NEED YOU???"


	6. Episode 6

Episode 12: The Mist Settler Yukuro  
The floating snakes were green and white, some blue, some purple. They gave off a ghostly aura, and each time they passed Mika, it gave her a shiver. She felt so cold, so dreadfully cold. She wanted something to hold, she wanted to run.  
"Sesshoumaru! Where are you?" she yelled, holding her arms, trying to warm up. She fell to her knees. Warm tears rolled down onto her cheeks. She was so cold, she was crying.  
"Sesshoumaru-sama..." Jaken wheezed and let his hands slip from Mika's pant leg. He tumbled and fell flat on the floor, coughing horribly.  
Behind them was Rin, who fell from Ah-Un onto the floor as well.  
"Sesshoumaru...please come...Rin's going to..." Mika could feel her breath slowing, slowing until her vision went black. The last thing she heard was her body's pat as she plummeted onto the rocky ground.

But Sesshoumaru would not come back. He could not even hear their cries for his help. His senses were blocked out. He could not see, he could not smell, and his hearing was definitely not helpful. So he continued to walk forward, firm with the thought that he would be able to see and hear after if he moved passed this mist.  
The mist was trying to slow him down, and after a while, he realized there was a barrier.  
_A barrier is it,_ he thought, without stopping his continuous pace. Then the same voice that spoke in Mika's head boomed across the large area of mist.  
"What do you want, dog demon," the voice said.  
"I want answers from you, that's want I want."  
"Huh! As if the great Yukuro would tell a insolent, foolish, human-bringer anything." Yukuro paused. "Maybe I'll tell you something if you give me something in return..."  
"Like what?" Sesshoumaru finally emerged from the mist and spotted ahead of him a enormous manor, its gates shut tightly.  
"Those young girls you have with you. I could use their flesh for some pretty nice medicine," Yukuro demanded.  
"Then forget it."  
"Wait, wait, wait! Fine, just one of them. The older one. You know, the priestess. I'll take her. If you give her to me, I'll tell whatever you want to know. I'll tell your future too, 'kay?"  
Sesshoumaru opened his mouth to protest when he heard a shout for help. He turned around sharply and ran back inside the mist.  
"Hey wait!!! I'm not finished speaking!" Yukuro yelled.

Mika struggled to get the youkai away from Jaken and Rin. The snakes swirled around Ah-Un, messing with their heads, confusing then with their clever moves. And while they distracted the two-headed beast, they bit and scratched at Mika, who was greatly weakened by the mist, which was actually shoki(miasma for you Inuyasha English Dub Fans). The floating snakes snatched away her bow and arrows, and pulled at Rin's hair.  
A crackling sound filled the silent air. Mika used her last ounce of strength to look up and see who it was. She felt someone lift her up into the sky, then heard this person's feet set on the ground that the mist did not cover. When she finally managed to open her eyes, she saw Sesshoumaru's strong hands holding her gently but firmly. He let her drop to the floor. She tried to open her mouth to speak but she was so tired. _Rin-chan...Jaken...I hope you guys are all right..._  
Minutes later, Rin was beside her, breathing soundly and safely. She raised a hand and let it fall against her cheek. Sesshoumaru returned with Jaken and walked in the opposite direction. Yukuro's voice stormed across the field again.  
"WAIT! WAIT! What about our deal? Okay, just give me the toad then!"  
Sesshoumaru did not stop walking away.  
"WAIT!" Yukuro said, only this time, it was younger, and well...more childish. Out of the mist came out of a little girl with silver hair. Her kimono was several sizes bigger than her, and a huge beaded necklace had to be wrapped around her neck five times to stay off the floor.  
"What's so bad about giving me little human girls?" whined Yukuro. Mika's eyes became large white plates and even Sesshoumaru was surprised.  
"Y-You're a little girl?" Mika asked.  
"OF COURSE NOT! This is not my real form. Don't I look innocent and cute--"  
"Ahem," Mika interrupted, clearing her throat, "I don't think hurting a little girl is innocent."  
"Pfft! If you saw my beauty, the dog demon over there would fall over." Yukuro fluffed her hair.  
With confidence in his tone, Sesshoumaru said, "Try me."  
"With pleasure," and the mist surrounded her. Puffs of smoke covered her entire body and when the steam cleared, she became a young woman in her twenties. Her lips were now colored by red rouge, and her silver hair flowed down. Her kimono now fit her nicely, and the beads seemed small. She stood towering over Mika and Rin, and was as tall as Sesshoumaru, even though she was female.  
"Well?"  
"I'm seen better looking women than you," Sesshoumaru retorted and turned his attention from her.  
Yukuro looked hurt. "Well excuse me! How rude! So you're saying this human _girl_ is better looking than me huh?" she shouted, pointing rudely at Mika.  
"Yes, she's a goddess compared to you," he snapped.  
Mika felt her ears turn pink. _What a sweet side he has!_  
"You have no manners to the elderly do you?"  
"So you're admitting you're old?"  
Yukuro gritted her teeth and grunted. "Hmph! Do whatever you want, but don't ever come on my property ever again!" Yukuro waited for him to reply. But when she turned, Sesshoumaru and the others were already way ahead.  
"Hmm...they make a cute couple." she chuckled and began to walk her way back to her manor when the two-headed beast shocked her by charging toward their distant companions.  
"Hmm..." Ah-Un groaned and flew after them.

Mika felt herself warming up to Sesshoumaru.  
_He's not that bad after all. He's so shy,_ she thought and giggled.  
"Thank you Sesshoumaru for saving me! I owe you!" She ran forward and patted his shoulder.  
He turned his head to glare at her, but she was so happy, she didn't notice.  
"AH! Sesshoumaru-sama, are you angry?" Jaken asked, with fright in his voice. Mika blinked and patted his head.  
"You look so cute when you're angry! Now cheer up! We lived through that didn't we?"  
Sesshoumaru gave her another irritated look. "Stop touching my arm. You're annoying."  
"HA HA! YOU GOT TOLD OFF!" teased Jaken, laughing as if it were his victory.  
Mika felt one of her veins crack. _Annoying???_  
"HMPH! ANNOYING HUH? FINE BE THAT WAY, YOU ARROGANT, UNGRATEFUL DOG! ONE DAY, I'M GOING TO SHOOT YOU TO A TREE AND LET YOU ROT!" The intensity of her anger rose and she aimed it all at Jaken. She cracked her knuckles and marched toward Jaken.  
"Wait, wait, I didn't say a word--OW! PLEASE, PLEASE SPARE ME!!!"  
When Mika was done with her punishment, Jaken no longer looked like himself. There were three bumps on his head, he had a black eye, and a sprained leg.  
"Rin, help me..."  
"No, sorry Jaken-sama. You deserved that," and brushed pass him.  
"You guys, don't be so mean. Don't leave me behind--_SMACK_ OW! OUCH!"  
"Be quiet Jaken," Sesshoumaru said.  
"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama."


	7. Episode 7

Episode 13: I Begin To Understand (Special POV featuring Mika!)  
My face was wet by the rain by the time I took shelter under the branches of the tree. It had suddenly begun to rain when I embarked on this mountain with Sesshoumaru and his "companions". And there were no dark, gloomy, _big_ clouds hovering above us, so it was not normal for it to be raining. Especially on a mountain that was quite warm, now extremely soaked and muddy from the falling raindrops.  
"When is Sesshoumaru-sama coming back???" complained a certain toad. Jaken was always complaining these days, and for the first time of my life, I did wonder where did that selfish Sesshoumaru go.  
Sesshoumaru. I had only spent a week with him and I believe he still does not even know my name. _Well, I'm going to tell him when he comes back_, I thought bitterly. But now was not the time to be regretting the late introduction. I was worried; the rain was pouring harder every minute, and Rin couldn't last.  
Rin was the little girl in the colorful kimono that seemed to follow Sesshoumaru like a pet. I was actually surprised he even let her follow him; but I knew even he wouldn't just abandon a little girl who saved his life to the wild.  
"He's not coming back anytime soon is he," I commented and sat there some more.  
"No, he's not," Jaken replied and grimaced as he struggled to strike a fire. I shook my head. It was common sense that you couldn't start a fire when you have a shower coming down from the sky.  
"Forget about a fire, we need to worry about how to find somewhere _where_ the rain can't possibly fall on us. Think Jaken," I said, standing up. I stretched my stiff legs a bit and heard a groan from my stomach. I was fairly hungry, and I would have bet my good ol' horse Hime (who was huddled as small as she could behind us) that the others were starving as well.  
"We also need to worry about where to get some food. I'm not going to last any longer than this."  
Jaken ignored my comment about food and suggested, "What about that cart that your horse drags around? We can use that as shelter can't we?"  
"No way! It's already wet enough. I don't need your dirtiness dirtying it everywhere!"  
"You're just about as dirty and muddy as me!" he groaned.  
I looked to the sky. It didn't look like clouds to me, but it was gray and depressing all the same.  
"You know what, I can't wait anymore. I'm going to find where that Sesshoumaru is! Stay here with Rin and Ah-Un, alright?"  
"WAIT A MO! Don't JUST LEAVE ME HERE--" protested Jaken, but I was already running from the rain.

In my hand, I clutched my bow and supply of arrows tightly. _Maybe he got engaged in a fight or something. Maybe that's why he won't come back._ But my assurance didn't sound convincing. I was still worried.  
I started cough and sneeze. The water was so cold, I think my fingers were getting frostbite! I took a quick glance at my hands. They were red and the skin texture was of like a prune, but still pale tan.  
I kept on running until I heard thunder. My shaking knees fell to the mountain floor. It crashed somewhere a bit far from my location, but nevertheless, I was scared. When I was small, I remember hiding under my blankets whenever the godly lighting tore across the sky. The fear remained dormant until now.  
Then when I was sure the thunder was gone, I got up and took a step forward when something slimy wrapped around my ankles.  
"AH!" I mumbled and slipped back onto the damp earth. I could taste and feel the grit in my mouth. _GROSS!_ I thought with dismay and scrambled to get back up on my two feet. But the evil crackle of laughter was all that I needed to cling to the land.  
"It makes me laugh to see you so powerless, Mika," Naraku said. I shut my eyes and begged that it was not him. I opened my mouth to reply him.  
"You are laughing, you half-breed fool," I snapped.  
"It seems so."  
_Get up Mika! The bad guy is right behind you and you're sleeping on your stomach. He could kill you any moment!!!_ my mind urged, but my heart was pounding so hard, all I could do was grip to the mud. Biting my lip, I wished that he would ignore me.  
"What do you want," I asked, my mouth trembling with fright. I tried not to show it, but I guess he heard anyway.  
But by the time I murmured those words, someone whisked me away already.  
"What are you doing here," someone said, the words blurred from rain.  
"Looking for you," I mumbled and fell into sleep, at the wrong time.  
And immediately, I had a horrible nightmare of my past.  
_I remember..._  
_I remember that day when I went into the hut. I was going to feed Sahi, my little dog. Only what I found there was not what I expected._  
_I can still hear my frail voice calling his name. I remember calling Sahi and running back outside to tell my teacher about the blood in the hut._  
_I can still see the scene so clear, as if it were yesterday._  
_I said to my sensei, 'Omae-sensei, I think someone killed the chickens in the hut.'_  
_And she replied with sorrow in her eyes, 'I'm afraid those weren't the chickens...'_  
_I remember the shocked scream I yelled when I saw my sensei holding Sahi with quavering hands, shaking so much that the blood poured from her hands._  
_I remember the massacre of the village earlier that day. Just because of my foolishness, my naiveness, that simple mistake._

I could hear Sesshoumaru place me down gently again, and leave me to fight Naraku. I wanted to get up so badly, but my body still refused, the nightmare rerunning many times in my mind.  
Even without my sight and the unholy dreams blocking my sight and senses, I knew he was struggling. Naraku had him trapped. There were tentacles surrounding him, and each striking at a different tempo. There was even tentacles in the sky.

Then someone's hands touched my warm face. I could hear that girl named Kagome's voice whisper my name.  
"Mika-chan! Are you alright?"  
"Does she seem alright? You ask the worse questions at the wrong times!" Inuyasha shouted and took out his sword, the metal scraping the sheath.  
"Inuyasha!" I heard her voice strain. I felt her hands snatch something and felt liquid poured into my dry lips.  
The rain was still pouring, ice cold but all I cared was Sesshoumaru.  
_He could die in that condition! I have to get up..._  
And some blind fury took a hold of me and I snatched my bow. I forced my eyes open, my head aching painfully. I aimed the arrow at Naraku's head and let go. The string shook as the arrow flew. I collapsed and knew I finally got his attention from Sesshoumaru.  
The following events happened so fast I could not believe them. At first, I just felt the rain continuously falling on my cheek. Then I felt the tentacles wind around my legs and pull me toward him. A few feet away I saw Sesshoumaru struggling to get away from the tentacles and Inuyasha hacking at the tentacles.  
"I won't give up even if you cut me into pieces!" I reached out my red hands and grasped the tentacles. I felt warm light on my hands and began to tear them apart.  
"You will suffer for all you've done Naraku!"  
Naraku started to chuckle at my frenzied attempt but was shocked when his souls came flying out.  
"What's going on???" Sango shouted, her breath heavy as she cut off more of the tentacles. Miroku who was standing beside her was too shocked to say anything.  
His souls were all tainted black but when they reached me they turned white and pure.  
Then as a final attempt to escape, Naraku raised a free tentacle and struck my ankle and tossed me off the mountain.


	8. Episode 8

Episode 14: Help Wanted  
When Naraku flung Mika like a sandbag over the cliff of the mountain, everyone simply stood there, mouths open. The mountain was not the highest mountain, but it was at least nineteen thousand feet above sea level. No one would survive.  
Naraku guffawed with victory in his voice. He struck Sesshoumaru in the stomach and slammed Inuyasha to the floor. Even Kagome's Hama no Ya could not penetrate his always-existing barrier. It was as if all hope was lost.  
Kilala growled and charged at Naraku even though she knew so well that she would be thrown back.  
"Kirara!!! Stop!" Sango pleaded and threw Hirakotsu at the tentacles that began to rise at the nekomata. When the boomerang came back, she flung it at Naraku once more. It finally hit him successfully and after he was reduced to a pile of tentacles, (he was a kugutsu, a puppet as always) the group heard mocking laughter.  
"How foolish..."

_Mika..._ a voice resonated.  
Mika groaned in the water.  
_Mika, wake up. You are all right. You survived._  
Mika fumbled to gasp for air.  
_You fell into a river. You are alive. So go on, open your eyes. _  
And Mika did.  
At that moment she realized she was no longer in the waters and that the rain had finally stopped.  
By pure luck, when Naraku struck her down off the mountain, there was a deep river running on the side and Mika happened to fall into the current and was carried to a shore very far from the mountain. Mika struggled to move as she breathed in deeply of the fresh air. She moved her hands across the sand, searching of for plants or rocks to pull herself up. Her hand felt something hard and rocky and she pushed hard on it to get up.  
When she got up and attempted to move her legs, a very unendurable pain ran across her entire body.  
Then she gathered her courage and looked at her legs, wincing.  
They were totally messed up. Her left ankle was sprained horribly, and her right thigh was splattered with blood that did not stop pouring from a horrible cut. And it was not just her legs. Naraku had also struck her stomach, her left shoulder, and her right arm. There was small hole made by Naraku's poison tentacles on her stomach, a big scratch on her left shoulder, and her right arm at least was just bruised.  
What was she to do so hopelessly crippled?

"DARN IT! IT'S ANOTHER PUPPET!!!" Inuyasha complained and began kicking sand.  
"OSUWARI!" Kagome shouted and sighed. "Is this the time to be complaining? Mika-san just fell off the cliff!"  
"Thrown off," Miroku corrected.  
"Well its Sesshoumaru's fault he didn't go rescue her. It's not my fault--"  
"OSUWARI!"  
Inuyasha fell into the mud once more.  
Across the field, Sesshoumaru pulled the dead tentacles off his body. He was thinking deeply about Mika. He decided he would go down and at least see if she was alive. He turned on his heel and began walking down the mountain.  
"Sesshoumaru's leaving. Do you think he's going to check on Mika?" Kagome asked, to no one in particular. The replies she got were only shrugs from her fellow comrades.

Mika was wondering if anyone was coming to save her.  
_Probably no one. I might as well commit suicide and stop suffering._  
But she wasn't in the shape to kill herself either. So she just laid there, the sun drying the blood from her clothes.  
The water was running quietly, and very faintly, Mika could hear someone's footsteps. By the youki, she could tell it was Sesshoumaru. She hoped he was going to rescue her, which was very unlikely, not just pity her and taunt.  
"Hi Sesshoumaru. It's nice seeing you here. Can you give me a hand and pick me up?"  
"I only have one. If I give you my only hand, I can't pick you up can I?" he replied sarcastically. Mika was surprised he even knew how to make jokes.  
"Very funny. Now will you please help me up?"  
"Why should I help you?"  
"..." Mika laid there some more, thinking of reasons to tell him. "Because its good to help people!"  
"I'm not "people"."  
"Oh yeah, I forgot. You are the great Sesshoumaru. You don't help "people". Funny thing is, I just saw a person following you! And yeah, her name is Mika!"  
"I have better things to do than carry a human."  
"Just 10 minutes. Just drop me off on Hime and I will be happily on my way."  
"No," he said.  
"5 minutes," she offered.  
"No," he replied.  
"If you don't help me, I will make you beads exactly like Inuyasha, and when I say 'I hate you' you will fly into the sky and onto the moon! I can do that, do you want that?" she threatened.

"See, its good to help people!" Mika commented as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't even weigh a feather to you! How convenient!"  
"If you keep talking, I'll throw you back in the river," he snapped and walked his way back to where Jaken and Rin were.  
Mika stayed silent as a mime on the way back.  
_Hmph! I just saved his butt from extinction and he's being rotten mean._  
Finally after a long silence Mika opened her mouth and spoke again.  
"How old are you?" she mumbled, trying to strike up a conversation. Sesshoumaru did not answer. Mika giggled. It was fun to irritate him, as so she thought.  
"Are you single? Do you ever sleep?" she continued, feeling his anger rising under his cool demeanor. "Do you eat? What's your mother's name?"  
"Why are you so nosy?" he interrupted and stopped walking.  
"I just want to talk. When you are hurt it is best to talk to keep your life running smooth! And I'm am most certainly not annoying--OW! PUT ME DOWN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Mika screamed as Sesshoumaru prepared to drop her onto the floor.  
"If I fall, I will break into a million pieces!"  
"And you wouldn't be able to talk anymore."  
"Sesshoumaru! I'm warning you! Don't you dare--AHHH! NO! BAD DOG! STOP! NO! Don't you dare lower your arm anymore! And--AHH!!! DON'T GRAB MY LEG! IT HURTS TOO MUCH!"  
Sesshoumaru ignored her and continued to pull on her injured leg.  
"GRRR! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS--OW! STOP PULLING! I'M GOING TO LOSE A LEG! SESSHOUMARU!!! I SWEAR--hey, it feels better now." Sesshoumaru leg go of her leg and she plummeted onto the floor.  
"OW!!! I'm still a cripple you know! Hey, where you going? You aren't going to just leave me here? Hey! It was a deal! COME BACK!"


	9. Episode 9

Episode 15: Never Yell At A Daimyo  
"Are we there yet? I'm starving!!!" complained Mika.  
Sesshoumaru, Rin, Jaken, Ah-Un, and Mika had been traveling away the mountains and rivers for 3 days, and during that time, well, Sesshoumaru hadn't been taking care of Mika. Not that he was obliged to.  
"Will you stop your useless moaning and groaning? I can't see why Sesshoumaru-sama even c-" Jaken spluttered then stopped at a certain word. Mika was clinging on the back of Sesshoumaru and was giving him a very mean look. Jaken decided it was time to close his mouth.  
"Well at least take a bath or something. You stink," Jaken muttered. He hoped Mika had heard but all she did was yawn and ignore him. _Stinking human. One day I hope wild animals tear her apart!_  
Then suddenly Sesshoumaru stopped. He set Mika down roughly and then left his companions at the foot of a hill.  
"Jaken come with me," Sesshoumaru ordered. Jaken gulped and followed him nervously. If he had to come, he was going to be in danger.

"Hey, Rin-chan, do you want to go sightseeing in the nearby village? It'll be safe and fun!"  
"But it's scary there..." Rin complained.  
"You're scared of humans more than youkai?"  
Rin nodded. "They killed everyone that's why."  
"I understand. But you have me so no one's going to harm you. Besides, I think a doctor has to look at my foot or I'll never walk again. Can you lend me your hand?"  
Rin stood up and pulled her up with all of her strength. Slowly they walked to the village.

"Oh what is that? Does that taste good?" questioned Rin. All around her were government officials, merchant stalls and bundles and bundles of silk that even attracted color loving birds, things she had never seen or had not seen for a very long time. But that was not all; it was also a carnival and that meant food. Fresh fish and vegetables all shapes and sizes were free and cheap today.  
Mika and Rin grabbed all of the freebies and sat down at an alley of the town.  
"Ah! Dumplings are certainly good! I haven't had such a good meal in a time!"  
"I prefer fish better..." Rin moaned.  
"Oh, you really hate the city don't you. Okay, let's go then."  
"No its okay! Its really fun! We can stay a bit longer."  
Mika smiled. "All right, if you insist. Hey, look at that guy! He's giving free rice balls! Want to get some?"  
"I have never seen such trash like you here before," a voice said behind them. Feeling insulted, the miko turned sharply.  
A man equipped with a goatee and little hair was standing full of pride was fanning himself with a fan. He was donned with very expensive red and gold cloths and many soldiers were guarding him.  
_Those clothes... a daimyo? Oh dear..._  
"I-We're not trash. We're just visitors."  
"Well, if you're visitors," the daimyo chuckled, strolling toward Mika, "why such a pretty girl like you isn't in my service yet?" He touched her cheek, only to have his hand slapped away by her.  
"Travelers. Travelers like us do not belong to any town. Let's go--ow, Rin-chan can you help me?"  
The daimyo frowned and furrowed his brows. "I see that you are a miko. May I ask you come to my manor today?"  
"Sorry but I have to turn it down. My friends are waiting and they hate to be waited on." She began to turn away and stagger back to the multiplying crowd.  
But the daimyo refused to give up. He struck his hand out and snatched her wrist.  
"_You_ will come to my manor. If not _I_ will kill that little girl next to you." He tightened his grasp then let go. Gesturing to his soldiers, he marched across the carnival.  
"Rotten conceited man. We'll be long gone then right?"  
Rin nodded and pulled on her hand. "Can we go now? He kinda scares me."  
"Oh that's right! Scary man isn't he! Let's go," she said once more.  
They sauntered back to the spot Sesshoumaru left them and waited. And waited. And waited. And yet, there was no sign that Sesshoumaru was coming.  
"I'm starting to regret turning him down. I'm kind of hungry. Are you Rin?"  
"No, not really," she replied. They sat in silence longer.  
"Do you think we could go to his manor without Sesshoumaru worrying? I mean he sure took long this time."  
"I don't want to go."  
"Its big and everything! We can just take a peek!"  
Rin shook her head no. "The men are scary."  
Mika shut her mouth. She didn't want to force her. "Do you want to keep waiting?"  
This time, she didn't reply.  
At this time someone had touched Mika's shoulder and startled her.  
"Who is it this time," she snapped and gasped. The daimyo was gripping hard. "Ow!"  
"You didn't come," he murmured, menace building in his eyes.  
"I never said--uh--I'd come," she managed to mumble.  
"Mika-san!" Rin shouted but was held back by suspicious men.  
"Take her to the dungeon. And as for you," the daimyo said to Mika, "you'll be coming with me."

The daimyo's men blindfolded Rin and Mika as they smuggled them to his manor (or castle, if that's more easier to imagine) like how criminals in the modern world smuggle drugs. Only it was simple as putting cake in your mouth because the daimyo owned the land so no one suspected him trying to smuggle in two hopeless girls.  
They locked Rin up in a dungeon below the manor and Mika was forced to walk grudgingly next to the daimyo. Finally, when they were alone in his room, she stared in his eyes and asked, "What do you want with me?"  
The daimyo turned to her with an emotionless face at first, but then suddenly smirked widely. Mika glanced at him anxiously and with horror. "You're not human...are you..."  
The daimyo guffawed and clutched her left wrist tightly. "What I want you surely know. Haven't you heard that young girl's flesh brings good things? Especially those that are supernatural..." A long tongue extended from his mouth. Scars and marks showed that it had mutated. The man was human, but he had eaten so many youkai, priests, and priestesses, he was no inhuman. And now he was planning to eat  
Mika.  
Unless you were crazy, you would refuse to be eaten by this monster. And of course, Mika did exactly that.  
"No! Let go of me!" She flung her wrist in the air in many directions, trying to fling him off. But he held tight on, like a bottom stuck to glue.  
"Hmm...I like bony parts...the squeals the victims give are so interesting...some go "AHHH" and some go "NO!" oh and some even die immediately," he explained, examining her left ankle, which unfortunately was not all better. It was still sprained, and at this time, at the wrong time, it was the skinniest part of her body. The mutated daimyo began to drool at the thought of another caught prey while Mika groaned and moaned at his saliva touching her skin. She desperately tried to escape yet he was too strong, too strong for a girl to overpower him. Then finally, he charged forward and bit into the fleshiest part of her ankle.

Rin sat in that dark and gloomy dungeon for what seemed to be hours though it was only minutes they had thrown her in. She couldn't get out (obviously) because she was blindfolded for one thing, and her hands and legs were all tied up to a pole. So no matter where she squirmed, the ropes didn't get looser or break. Then after a while she gave up.  
_I wonder what is that man going to do to Mika-san? If he eats her or something, that would be terrible... But I can't get out of these ropes..._  
Rin rubbed her bare feet across the rocky floor. Then something cut her big toe. She looked down yet could not see anything and decided that touching that something would be ideal choice. So she let her feet rub the floor once more and the something cut her toe again. She stopped and touched the edges of this something and realized it was a rock. A very sharp rock that could break the ropes, surely.  
But now that she had something that would get her out, how was she supposed to bring it up to the back of her hands when another rope was tied to her waist to a pole? The only way to do it would be to pick it up with her feet. But then again, they were tied as well.  
This predicament made Rin frustrated, as any young child would be, and soon she gave up trying to pick it up. She couldn't rescue Mika. She couldn't escape. Surely, they would not survive.  
Unless someone would save them.  
But then again, that someone was far, far away. He was in some mountain looking for his enemy with his servant.  
Rin thought again. Who else would save them?  
And by racking her brains of who would come save them, she amused herself for the next 15 minutes of boredom.

The priestess didn't know whether to scream or not. When you have a sprained ankle, and a monster with a many sharp teeth that bites into your poorly sprained ankle, you obviously have no other choice but scream right?  
But Mika couldn't scream. In fact, she felt no pain. _No pain? How can that be_, she thought. Wincing by instinct she peered down and saw her ankle being bitten away.  
There was blood, and a lot of blood indeed. Maybe she was so scared, she couldn't scream anymore. Maybe because of her fear, maybe her body had reacted to that by numbing everything. But that was not the case.  
She looked again, closer this time. Now she could see that in the blood were tiny blue particles. Then suddenly, a wave of tiredness swept over her and she fell unconscious.


	10. Episode 10

Episode 16: Yukuro's Determination  
"I hate dogs, I hate them, I absolutely wish I could kill them!!!" the mist settler grumbled. A bunch of wild dogs had just driven off her from her home and a hunting dog had stole her food, which was preserved boar meat. Now she was starving in the middle of nowhere.  
"If it weren't for that stupid dog demon, I believe I would still be living happily in my house. BUT he had to come with that stupid girl, with his stupid companions, and insulted me with stupid comments, and gave me the stupid dog smell that attracted those stupid dogs that ruined my house and pooped their stupid poop on my property!!!"  
She pounded her angry fists on a nearby tree. "He will pay, oh yes, that stupid dog demon will pay! Acting so stupidly proud! Hmmph! Well someday he'll see. I'll go to his house and ruin it!"  
And then Yukuro realized that she didn't even know where his home was, or that he even had one. _He's more of a traveling type huh..._  
"ARGH! This is not going to get me back my home! And my precious herbs..." Yukuro sobbed. Second to her life was the herbs she collected and the experiments she did.  
"Uh...I don't have time to yell about things like that... I've got to get some food..." She sat down to rest her legs, dreaming about food. She dreamed of fleshy meat and grimaced at the thought of not being able to find a human village and eat all the rice she could have.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, do you think it is a good idea to leave Rin all alone with that human in that abandoned forest? What if Naraku goes and kidnaps her? Then you would have to run all the way back and go save and have him escape..." Jaken said.  
"He won't escape."  
"You say that my lord, but he does manage to escape every time--"  
"That's because Inuyasha is there."  
"Is it really his fault? I mean, maybe you need something more powerful? Maybe a new weapon?"  
"My sword is fine."  
"Well..."  
"Will you be quiet for a minute?"  
Jaken nodded and followed him silently. Minutes dragged as they strolled along side the mountain. Jaken couldn't withstand the silence any longer. He longed for some noise. And then he got it.

"That voice... its that annoying toad that was traveling with that stupid dog demon!" Yukuro said and ran off in the direction of Jaken's booming voice. _Heh heh, that dumb toad. Now that you gave away your master, I can now--_  
"AHHHH!" she suddenly screamed and fell down into a hole that was purposely dug out and covered with leaves and branches of dead trees. This was a lesson for Yukuro to look before walking, something that she never thought about in her long and happy life. She touched her sore back and stood up, looking at the sunlight that peeped through the openings made by the trees. Then she sniffed the branches. It reeked of human hands.  
"Oh no. Don't tell me I got caught in a human trap??? Me? THE GREAT MIST SETTLER YUKURO???"  
"Hey, we caught something!" a villager said.  
"Uh oh," Yukuro whispered. She searched frantically around the ditch for any loose vines she could climb up. She whistled and waited for her snake-like creatures to come. Nothing came.  
"Darn, they must have gotten killed or eaten by those dogs..."  
"What is that thing down there?" a man asked his comrades.  
"Doesn't look like food," another replied.  
"I'M NOT EDIBLE!!!" Yukuro barked.  
"Oh my gosh! It spoke..." a broad man with an axe commented.  
"I think its some kind of mushroom," a large woman suggested.  
"WHAT???" Yukuro shrieked. She huddled into a corner. "This is ridiculous," she said again.  
"Are you sure it isn't a lizard? Can't you see that tail?"  
Yukuro could feel the fury inside her. "How insulting..."  
"It's a youkai you dummies!" a young voice shouted behind the crowding men and women.  
"What?"  
"Now they find out," Yukuro said. "Well, I'm not staying any longer." Yukuro knelt down, building the power in her legs and sprang up from her jump. Her snake-like creatures finally arrived and carried her away. As they set her down in another unknown part of another forest she felt the ground below her collapse.  
"OH COME ON!!!" her voice boomed.

Rin got to work cutting the ropes on her feet. After a new found bunch of courage she had rubbed the ropes on the sharp rock. At last, the tight ropes that bound her broke free. Now she tried to slide her hands down the pole. It worked. She now twisted herself around the pole to where the rock was and began rubbing the ropes binding her hands. Soon, the ropes on her hands were loose. Now she undid the ropes holding her to her waist and removed the blindfold.  
It was dark and gloomy in the dungeon, and for the first time in the cell, she noticed a smell in the air. It was horrid, and was not pleasant. She got up and collected a rock or two. Then she started to hack the lock on the bars of the cell.

When the mist settler finally climbed out of the hole she fell in for the second time, she spotted a nearby town. A grand manor and a small town was all that was needed to tempt Yukuro into it.  
As soon as she stepped into sight, the guards pulled out their swords and directed them menacingly at her.  
"Stop right there. Who are you?"  
"I'm a weary traveler. I'm very hungry. Now let me pass," she explained taking another step forward.  
"You're a youkai aren't you? Why do you think we'll let you pass? You'll just put danger to our people."  
She chuckled and said, "I don't eat people; what are you talking about? Will you let me pass or not?"  
"No," the other guard replied.  
"Wrong choice," she spoke, and transformed to her true identity. (Which you have to read to find out!)  
Walking in the town triumphantly, she looked around for any food stalls and took out the pouch of money she took from the guards.  
_Now I can eat whatever I want!_

After a while, Yukuro finally had her fill, she saw the grand manor.  
"Whoa! It's built beautifully! I love this castle! I want it to be my new home!" she squealed and stroked the structure of the building. "The limestone is perfectly smooth, the statues have a marvelous hue of gold, and the best thing about this is--" She paused to squeal. "--its in PERFECT SYMMETRY!!!" (Can you guess what this comment is from? Comment to tell me.)  
"There she is! Get her!" a gruff voice said behind her. Yukuro reverted her attention to her back. Men wearing the same uniform as the guards were all rushing toward her with sharp, pointy, silver spears.  
"Oh no," Yukuro said and raced into the manor doors. With the soldiers on her tail, she had to get away fast.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, was that voice of that woman we encountered at that castle?" Jaken asked, the question count reaching 121#.  
"Who knows," he replied.  
"Are you worried about Rin, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken questioned. (Jaken, its a good idea not to ask again...)  
The reply he got was five smacks on his head.

Yukuro ran in circles in the castle with the guards hot on her trail. No matter loop she turned they always seemed to be two inches away from her.  
"Will you stop chasing me please?" she pleaded as she ran like a cheetah.  
The guards replied the same usual "Stop right there" and did not stop the frenzy.  
"Grr! I HATE YOU PEOPLE!" Yukuro shouted and ran into a room and transformed into her real form.  
"Argh, that youkai hid cowardly. She's in this room somewhere! Search this place!" the leader ordered, and they began picking up blankets and baskets and leafing through things. But Yukuro was long gone.  
She sneaked out of the room the unaware soldiers were inspecting and into a long hallway. She ambled to the other side and slithered through the opening of the door.


	11. Episode 11

Episode 17: It Is A Bad Idea To Look Into Someone's Eyes (Special Mika POV)  
_Don't look, don't look, don't look, don't look--_  
I couldn't believe myself that my death was this early.  
_It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts--_  
I just couldn't. I mean, who would think that their death would be someone eating your leg?  
_I'm leaving and never coming back--_  
I tried to push him away. But his claws and teeth were hurting me so much. I could feel the blood pouring away like a river.  
_Goodbye Mika--_  
I couldn't see anything, yet I persisted in giving up. I slapped him, I kicked him, I punched his head, but all I hit was air.  
_What have you done--_  
I know if I give up I won't ever get to see that person. That person that I've been searching for all of these years. If I gave up, that person would never ever forgive me. I slapped the daimyo again.  
_How can you say that to Nagato--_  
_Huh? Why am I having this nightmare again at this time? I've got to focus..._  
_The slap was hard and cold on my face. 'I'm so sorry,' I said..._  
_What--where is this coming from--_  
_'You're an oni! You almost killed Nagato-san! If it weren't for Omae-sama, Nagato would be burned to death!!!'_  
"No, not this again," I murmured blindly, only tormented by the haunting nightmare.  
"I can feel the power flowing through my veins..." the daimyo said, pausing to feel the souls he was consuming from me resonating in his body.  
_I thought I was your friend..._  
_Don't leave me! You said you would be here for me!_  
_You didn't lie right?_  
........................................................................POV END HERE FOR NOW..............  
Sesshoumaru lingered for a few seconds, taking in the air. He could smell a great deal of blood that was mixed in with Rin's scent. And when he held his breath, he could hear a very, very, very faint scream of terror from Mika. His foot plunged into the ground and he started to walk back. Jaken watched him as he brushed pass him.  
"We're going back."  
"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama," Jaken answered.  
.......................................................................POV STARTS AGAIN......................  
I grimaced and screamed and shrieked and winced at the pain. It was like surgery without the drug to numb the pain. I bit my lip hard and tried to move but I felt so dizzy, so helpless. Some of my vision had returned now, but I still had not the energy to run away.  
"Why is your soul so big??? I'm getting full now," the daimyo said.  
My leg was bleeding very badly, but he didn't rip any flesh so far. He did chew on my ankle though, and I believe it was starting to take its toll on me. The daimyo had mutated even more now; his muscles were ripping and bulging. His face was no longer a human face but a face of red hunger.  
"You're scared aren't you priestess," the daimyo spluttered. "Are you wondering if anyone's going to save you?"  
I didn't reply because I couldn't. I was too tired.  
"Heh," he said and screeched a horrible cry.  
Just then a snake crawling through the sliding doors bit the daimyo somewhere. The monster screeched again and fell over somewhere. The snake grew larger until it was the size of an average child. The snake transformed and there stood a little girl with white locks.  
"Mika, this way!" Yukuro directed.  
"I can't move..."  
"Oh my... this is...here, take my hand!" she offered. She pulled me up and we exited the dreaded manor.  
"Drink some water, your lips are pale." She handed me some water in a wooden cup.  
"Wait, Rin...is Rin with you?"  
"You mean to say that little girl was with you?"  
"They threw her into a dungeon under the manor..." I drank some of the refreshing liquid. It soothed my throat and calmed my heart down. I kept drinking it, as if it was chasing my nightmares away. But no, they were still rerunning all the time in my head.  
"I'll go get her. You stay here and stay hidden. Those guards are hot on my tail." She looked at her back. "Not that I have one anyway," she added, trying to make the situation lighter. It was a bad attempt.  
I glanced at Yukuro as she stood up slowly and turn her back to me. "I'll be okay," she assured me. Whistling, the snake like creatures surrounded her until all I saw was blue light in front of me. Then when I blinked, she was gone.  
But of course, the daimyo would not go down by just a simple bite by a snake. When I drank some more water from the cup, I heard rustles in the bushes and felt my shoulder being cut from something.  
"I HATE MIKOS LIKE YOU! DIE!" The daimyo raised his mutated arm that was now like a blade and flung it violently at me. Then he stopped in midair.  
Below his neck, a sword pierced his chest. Then with great strength, the sword plunged across the side and cut the daimyo in half. Amounts of blood was splattered across the man who saved me. But not a single drop of blood had stained his silver hair and white kimono.  
_With just one arm...with just one arm he killed the monster that was killing me. I was such a fool... its all my fault... if I didn't bring Rin inside we wouldn't be in this mess. Why didn't I stay put!_ But scolding myself didn't make Sesshoumaru any happier.  
I took a glimpse at his face. I could see his same usual cool face, but deep within his eyes I could see anger and worry for Rin.  
"I'm so sorry... I... its all my fault..." I let my head fall back to the floor. I didn't want him to see my shame.  
But he didn't even reply. He took a step forward and then I felt a hand hit my face.  
The slap felt cold and hard against my cheek. I wanted to cry and break into a million pieces.  
"Sesshoumaru-sama slapped her..." Jaken commented all of a sudden.  
"I'm sorry... I was a fool..."  
"A fool of fools," he added.  
"Mika!" a voice called. I hesitated before I looked up again. Yukuro was carrying Rin, who was in no better shape then me. She was full of cuts and her face was red and her lips pale.  
"Rin!" I cried.  
Rin's frown broke into a relieved smile and I caught her as she flung into my arms.  
"I'm so sorry... I'll never put you in danger ever again. It was my fault..."  
"It's okay..." Rin told me.  
"Let's go," Sesshoumaru said, turning on his heel.  
But before he turned completely away, he glanced at me directly at my eyes. He was worried about me too.  
"Are you sick or what? Your cheeks are cherry red! Get up already!" Jaken shouted, his voice piercing through my ears.  
But I didn't care. My attention was only on the daiyoukai that had stolen my heart. The only man that had ever touched my soul that way.


	12. Episode 12

Episode 18: Evilness is Sleeping  
"Sango-chan, are you asleep?" Kagome asked her fellow comrade. Sango shook her head tiredly.  
"Tell me Kagome-chan, do you think anyone can sleep when there are two men snoring like a thunderstorm???" Sango pointed out.  
"I guess..."  
But Kagome knew it wasn't Inuyasha and Miroku's fault. Inuyasha had been sniffing so hard his nose was bleeding this morning. And Miroku was racking his brains so hard; or rather performing his perverted actions; they fell onto the floor when Sango and Kagome said "time to go to sleep".  
"I hate that Naraku. He's always hiding away. And these crystals are always shining." Sango whispered, holding out the crystal stone that a "mountain man" had given to them. The youkai had told them that when they are near Naraku the crystal would lose its youki. So far, the youkai's word was true, but the problem was that the crystal rarely ever lost its ever youki.  
_Flashback_  
"Wha--" Kagome spluttered.  
"There's monstrous slugs!" Shippo said.  
"That darn Kikyo," Hakudoshi said, popping behind the mayose tree, "just when I thought I dragged her out."  
"Hakudoshi? You're the one behind this?" Inuyasha asked, touching his fanged sword Tessaiga.  
"Kukukuku, do you even need to ask, hanyou?" Hakudoshi chuckled.  
_End of Flashback_  
"After Hakudoshi disappeared and after that disgusting youkai," Sango continued.  
"--Naraku never showed himself, only those useless puppets," finished Kagome.  
Looking up into the night sky, they finally dozed off.

Even though Sesshoumaru had literally slapped her, Mika felt no sorrow or anger. On her face was a dazzled look, something that freaked out Jaken.  
"Are you mad?" Jaken asked anxiously.  
"No," Mika whispered.  
"You're not going to hit me right?" he questioned once more.  
Mika didn't reply. She continued to stare at the man in front of her. Sesshoumaru must have noticed because soon he turned around and looked directly in her eyes.  
Mika squealed and looked back onto the floor, her face redder than ever.  
_Don't look at me!!! I hate you so much right now!_ she thought.  
But of course, that was a lie. She was thinking the opposite.

Kikyo looked at the girl in front of her. She was pale white, her hair to her toes. She was holding a baby with the "protecting stone" in its hands. She raised her bow and arrow, preparing to strike it when something crashed beside her, disrupting her aim.  
Moryomaru was hovering above her, diverting her attention from Kanna. She aimed the arrow at him and missed.  
_Someone's manipulating the pieces...don't tell its Hakudoshi--_  
Moryomaru struck again, giving Kanna a chance to disappear into the mist.  
Kikyo gasped and tried to shoot another arrow at the escaping Kanna but she was too late. She took a step forward and fell off.  
Kikyo raced to the edge to find Kanna being carried away by a cloud.  
_I was purposely led here by that evil presence... That baby was also carrying something... the Fuyouheki huh..._

"Kagura, you've been quite nosy these days aren't you," Naraku commented, his evil smirk present on his face as always.  
Kagura felt her skin prickle with anxiety.  
"Take a look over there," ordered Naraku, pointing to Rakan statues that were at Goryomaru's temple, the human version of Moryomaru.  
She was shocked to find Goryomaru still alive, or so it seemed.  
"You know, time to time, its good for you to do important things. So this time, I want you to guard this place."  
"What--" and suddenly the sleeping Goryomaru woke and struck Naraku.  
"Ha ha ha ha, how futile of you," he said. He turned to Kagura, his body regenerating, "and by the way, this will be your last job."  
Kagura gritted her teeth. _Last job huh. Is he going to kill me after that?_

"Kaede-baa-chan! Are you home?" called out Kagome.  
"I don't see why we have to be here," Inuyasha grumbled.  
"You never know what info Kaede-sama might have you know, Inuyasha," Miroku explained to the impatient hanyou.  
"Feh."

"Have you heard anything new, Kaede-baa-chan?"  
"Yes I have, I have heard of the good-looking medicine seller who has this miraculous potion that can heal anything," she said.  
"Is she pretty?" a perverted monk asked. He recieved a smack on his head for that comment from Sango.  
"It's a he, and it sounds fishy and amazing at the same time don't it?"  
"Keh, what does that have to do with anything?" Inuyasha snapped.  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted and returned her gaze to Kaede, "If there is really such potion, and we get a hold of that, we don't have to worry about Naraku's poisonous insects right?"  
"You have a point," Sango replied.  
"That is exactly why you should go check this out. Though the medicine seller left two days ago."  
Inuyasha pouted and stood up. "Fine," he growled.

"Miko," Sesshoumaru piped up. "I thought you were a cripple."  
Mika suddenly stopped blushing and halted in her tracks. Her face became redder and redder, only from fury this time.  
"AHH!!! MY LEG!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER! I'VE BEEN WALKING NORMALLY AND--ARGH!" She fell to the floor.  
"Hey, Mika," Yukuro exclaimed and helped her back up. Jaken glanced wide eyed at Yukuro.  
"SINCE WHEN WERE YOU HERE?" he questioned.  
"I've been here all along!!!" she barked and clamped her teeth.  
Sesshoumaru merely watched the argument back and forth. Rin looked up at the towering daiyoukai.  
"It's so fun being here isn't it Sesshoumaru-sama?"  
"Hm."


	13. Episode 13

Episode 19: Simple Tears

Sometimes Mika wondered how long they walked each day. It took its daily toll on her crippled leg which Yukuro examined and healed it everyday, but it still hurt. It seemed like miles and miles and miles of land ahead of them, yet they never seemed to reach their destination.  
Even Hime often got tired. The horse simply couldn't walk all those miles.  
But the walking never got Mika's mind off _his_ look.  
Those eyes that had glanced over to her that day simply lingered in her mind, even when she slept. They chased away her terrifying nightmares but his lordly figure and full of pride eyes haunted her. She began to think that was going crazy.  
On another rainy day, with Sesshoumaru gone again, the group luckily found a cave in the middle of nowhere. There was a village with friendly looking villagers, but Mika had vowed to never enter a human village until she left the group to not endanger them, at least for now. Yukuro knelt down next to her left leg and began massaging.  
"That stupid dog never knows when to stop. He just doesn't know the ladies right? I mean look at your leg! Its swollen bump had worsened! Uh..." she complained. She pulled off her sandal and wiped the wet foot.  
"I'm sorry to make you do this, Yukuro-san," Mika addressed politely, still feeling the shame in her cheek where Sesshoumaru had slapped her.  
"It's alright. Just keep in mind you and your dog boyfriend owe me a house."  
Mika's face flushed with a cardinal chroma. "Why-what makes you think Sesshoumaru is my "boyfriend"? He's arrogant and he gave me this-this injury!!!"  
"Okay, okay, just stop moving." She moved her skillful palms down to her ankle, analyzing the sprain. "I'll look at the wound in your stomach later too. And the little girl with the orange kimono," Yukuro added.  
"Yeah?" chimed Rin.  
"I'll need to look at your cuts too. I can't believe that dog would just ignore the injuries you guys have! I feel like I'm doing this for no reason..."  
"No, we appreciate it a lot Yukuro-san," Mika said, trying to keep her on the good side.  
"Still here?" a usually silent voice called out. Sesshoumaru took long strides into the cave. He was soaked from head to toe, and something on his face made Mika avert her attention over to him glow red in her face.  
"What are you looking at me for, miko?"  
"I'm looking at how funny you looked soaked!" and suddenly broke out in a genuine whoop.  
"What she's saying actually, is that "you look hot when you're wet"," Yukuro joked, unaware of her flirt was actually the translation of Mika's laughing.  
"Hm."  
Mika continued to laugh, having no idea why she was. Maybe it was girl's instinct to laugh so they would not have to look at a soaked dog.  
"Oh, and she's also saying "you are too good-looking"," Yukuro continued.  
"Are you flirting?"  
Then now it was Yukuro's time to laugh. "HA HA HA!!! FLIRTING? ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU THINK I'M FLIRTING??? HA! YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND! FLIRTING--no, I'm flirting," she said sarcastically at the end.  
But by now he was gazing at the priestess who was dying of laughter. It seemed as if she would never stop, that she was doomed to laugh until she couldn't breathe and die sadly, with the carbon dioxide exploding in her insides...

Finally Mika stopped laughing and Yukuro advanced on her prospect of her injuries. Rin crawled out from behind Ah-Un and as usual, stroke a fire with the help of a green imp. Eventually, Yukuro became weary with the average, daily dose of subdued noise. She sneered and put her head on her hand. Jaken put out his wet hands toward the flames, ready to butt in at any comment Yukuro was about to make.  
"Sesshoumaru, who was your father?"  
"Why would you want to know?" he said.  
"I'm curious," she replied.  
"How can you ask such a question??? Don't you know Sesshoumaru's father was the great Inu Taisho???"  
"Ah," she spoke. The "ah" was the "AH! HIM" of "ah". "Him huh..." She held her fingers to her lip and bit the nail of her thumb, with a thinking expression planted on her face.  
"You knew him???" inquired Jaken, with astonishment in his tone.  
"Yah, a hundred and eighty years ago," she added.  
"You're a hundred years old???" Mika spieled, moving her injured leg. She cringed.  
"Let's just say I've been through a lot," she said, chuckling nervously.  
Sesshoumaru eyed Jaken sourly.  
"He was pretty noble and he had good intentions. But the thought him makes me fearful," Yukuro admitted. "He looked really strong. And I guess it was true. I wouldn't have lifted a finger against him."  
"That's weird. That means the saying, "father and son, son and father are the same certainly" is not true," joked Mika. Then it was her turned to be eyed meanly at by Sesshoumaru. Mika eyed him back with lightning sparks.  
They shared stories until the rain let up from its endless sobbing.  
"Ah! I've been sitting on my butt all day! Why don't you guys come along with me to look for some herbs! Sesshoumaru you coming?"  
"Hmmph," he grunted but didn't get up. Yukuro gave a bored look at him and headed out of the cave with an excited Rin and a upset Jaken following her. As Mika got up she felt the shame again. She never thanked him either... So she turned around and tried to smile for him.  
He was still damp and his dog scent was even smellable to Mika. But he looked so innocent and dignified was he got up. His silver hair was long and glistening even in the unlit cave and his eyes were so lonely... yet so noble. As Mika walked behind him, he turned his head at Mika, his golden eyes gleaming with gloss from the sun.  
She took this chance to say thank you. But her lips wouldn't move.  
"You have something to say?"  
Mika glanced up slowly. She suddenly broke into a river of tears, the tears falling from her face, and she fell to the floor on her knees.  
_Why? Why can't I say anything? I just want to thank him... just like last time..._  
*Kikyo's Theme begins to play or Elfen Lied's Lilium Music Box Theme*  
_'I just wanted to be your friend...'_  
_Eh? What did I just think of now? What..._  
Sesshoumaru lowered his eyes a bit and knelt down. "Stop crying," he said. It seemed to be rude and insulting, but gentler then his usual tone. Then as if he had just sang a lullaby, Mika stopped crying and suddenly fell onto him.  
"What are you--"  
"Thank you," she whispered.  
And then he stopped his sentence. He knew he wouldn't be able to do anything except just kneel there until she pushed away.  
But for a few minutes, she just stayed there, clinging to the man who scolded her of her shame. For once since she ever met him, she was glad she did.


	14. Episode 14

Episode 20: What is the Difference Between a Dog and a Wild Dog?  
Mika felt the sweat on her face. She opened her eyes.  
"Ah!" she said, jerking up. But they were still in the cave, alone by themselves, with Sesshoumaru absent. She looked around. The fire crackling on the twigs was dancing softly, Rin and Jaken were snoring away, and Yukuro had her eyes close, shut from the insanity of the world.  
_A dream?_ Mika wondered. Then she flushed with red in her cheeks. _I was dreaming about him??? And I was--_ She shook her head. _Uh, dreaming about that guy? Pull yourself together Mika! And wet in the rain???_  
She glanced outside. The moon wasn't blocked by gloomy clouds, but the floor was certainly wet.  
_So it did rain, only we were asleep by then..._ Mika fell back onto the rocky floor. It gave her a little bump on her head, but she ignored the ache and closed her eyes with hope for a more _pleasant_ dream.

The forest air was still. The moon was shining ever bright on the silver-haired dog. There was no abnormality, no sudden change in the scent the wind brought, and definitely no clue to Naraku's whereabouts. Was there no way to get that deranged spider after all?  
Sesshoumaru turned his head away from the cliff. There was no use in prying in a completely regular plain. _Might as well leave_, he thought.  
Then he stopped. Lingering for some few seconds, he smelled the air again. _That smell... it's another dog..._

It was raining in her dream again. There was a beautiful lady clad in armor and under her armor was the usual priestess clothes. Her hair flowed like a goddess's, black and silkily, and she used no weapons against her enemies. Her face was white and her lips shone ruby from the rouge she used everyday. Even princes, as the dream told Mika, chased this beautiful goddess miko.  
And yet, her eyes were overflowing with sorrow. Each time she purified the poor, cursed youkai with her hands in the dream, she would pick up a little kitten animal with two tails and hug it with tears flowing down. The scene was serene and very sad.  
_Thwack!_  
The ache in Mika's head was unbearable. Her eyes blinked open, and she woke up.  
_Oh boy... I can't fall asleep..._  
_Thwack!_  
_Huh? What is that sound?_ Mika stood up, staggering to her right side, and shuffled her way outside to the entrance of the cave. The night breeze swept across her face, blowing her long black hair the same way as the wind blew in her dream.  
"The wind is so relaxing..."  
_THWACK!!!_  
_That noise is irritating..._ She began walking slowly away from the cave, praying in her head that Rin and the others would be safe from danger. When she reached the forest, she started to think that it was a bit dangerous for her to walk without a weapon. Who knew what dangers lurked behind every corner?  
"I should have brought my bow and arrows... then I wouldn't be so scared..." she murmured. She rubbed her hands. It was cold tonight.  
"ARGH!!!"  
Mika halted in her slow strides. _Youkai? Spirits? I must be getting close now..._  
"Who the world are you--AHH!"  
"Stop you monster--"  
The voices belonged to human voices. Was it possible that youkai were plundering the village nearby? Mika quickened her pace. If it was, they needed help.  
_But I vowed never to step into a village and cause trouble again..._  
She shook her head and began to jog. Her left leg jerked pain into her thigh. This caused her to trip and plummet into the mud.  
"Ouch," she breathed, and decided not to jog _or_ run.

Sesshoumaru followed the dog scent into the village. The village was dark and empty, and even though he wasn't afraid, he felt a bit out of place. Then, somewhere at least 5 meters away from where he was standing, he heard a faint cry that to his ears loud as a bell.  
"You demon woman! I will exorcise you from the very ends of this earth! Die!"  
He assumed by the words and the scent, that the shouter was a human monk. He began to walk toward this voice.  
"Hmph! I'm not quite full yet! I think one more wouldn't hurt..." This voice seemed to belong to a young girl. There was a yell from the monk and then complete silence.  
Finally, Sesshoumaru moved close enough to see the argument.  
There was a girl with short silver hair with a long white tail on her bottom. Her hands were sharp as nails and her mouth was dipped in the fresh blood of the men she had killed.

"AH!" Mika shouted, and clamped her mouth automatically after that. (It's not a good idea to let out a scream in a graveyard full of vengeful spirits is it? Write that down people, its on the test)  
Ahead of her, she spotted a tail of green fur. _Green? Did Sesshoumaru grow mold on his tail?_ She sauntered gradually toward the green thing.  
Suddenly, it pulsed. The crippled priestess jumped up in the air and sprinted (even though her leg was killing her) away into a nearby shack. Arming herself with a hoe (the gardening thing), she ambled sluggishly toward the alive organ. Poking it with the other end of her weapon, the thing looked more like burnt grass and throw up, than the dismembered tail of a dead youkai.  
_... GROSS!_ She held her breath as she passed the smelly youkai.  
All around her were stabbed-to-death youkai, some big, some small as a dog, and human corpses. Their expressions were all unpleasant like, their features stone cold with fear, and their insides eaten and bloody with the claret plasma spewing out like a fountain. She held silent prayers in her mind, and made a mental note to at least lay a few flowers at this village or bury a few people. It just seemed so sad to see the people laying on the floor lifeless with no proper burial resting place.  
But not now. Right now, she needed to look for him. _Him,_ she thought. _I wonder if he's okay..._  
But she had asked a very unnecessary question. Sesshoumaru wasn't okay. He was; well beyond okay. He was alright.  
In terms of physical health.


	15. Episode 15

Episode 21: Nao! And The Mysterious Good-Looking Medicine Seller  
"The mysterious good-looking medicine seller is fishy... Sango, why don't stay here with Kagome-sama and Shippo asking around the village? I'll go with Inuyasha and Kirara to look for him," Miroku suggested. His face was calm, but Kagome could easily see he was shaky.  
"No! Of course I'm coming! You need another fighter!" Sango protested angrily. She was insulted to know she was being regarded as the "bystander".  
"Sango! You're a woman!"  
"So? I've always been a woman! What does that have to do with anything???" she snapped. "I'm coming and that's final! YOU can't stop me Houshi-sama!"  
"Sango!!!"  
Kagome smirked and leaned close to Inuyasha's ear with Shippo.  
"Miroku-sama sure is shy around Sango-chan, don't you think?" whispered Kagome slyly. Shippo giggled under his cupped hands.  
Inuyasha stared at Kagome as if he didn't know her. "Shy? I bet he's just worried that Sango's going to catch him with another woman. You know him," Inuyasha assumed, pointing to the perverted monk who had just gotten a new collection of slaps from Sango for him touching her bottom.  
"Ahhh, Inuyasha doesn't get anything does he?" Shippo commented, shaking his head at Inuyasha. This earned him a punch in his face.  
"I-N-U-Y-A-S-H-A!!! O--"  
"K-Kagome, you're not going to sit--"  
"SU--"  
"KAGOME! No!" Inuyasha began to run away from the angry school girl.  
"--WA--"  
"AH!"  
"--RI! OSUWARI!!!" she shouted, and like a storm, gloomy, unhappy clouds formed above their heads as Inuyasha fell onto the floor on his nose, like begging for mercy in front of a king.  
"Ha ha," Shippo teased and the kitsune jumped away happily.  
"One day you're gonna get it..." a muffled voice belonging to a hanyou dog said.

"Who are you," Sesshoumaru said in his usual tone.  
The girl stopped eating the human and leisurely turned around. The blood was all over her chin, dripping onto her dirty kimono. She smelled of rats, humans, youkai and dog.  
With no notice whatsoever, she broke into a childish frenzy of jib and jabbering. "Do you want my name? Where I'm staying? Or possibly... if I'm single?" She flashed her eyebrows at the uninterested Sesshoumaru.  
There was the typical silence for the few common minutes.  
"Nyu!!! At least answer me, wapu!" She leaped into the air with her slim and muscular legs and reached at Sesshoumaru with her claws.

_RUMBLE RUMBLE_, Mika's tummy rumbled.  
"Aw dang garnit, I haven't eaten since yesterday. And neither have Rin and the others... I should really be getting back... I'm worried... AH why did I have to come all the way over here! There's nothing here to see!"  
A worm crawled next to Mika. Mika felt the sweat drop from her cheek.  
"OH MY GOSH! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT!!! GET IT AWAY! GET IT AWAY! AHHH!!! I HATE WORMS! NO! I HATE WORMS!"

Sesshoumaru's pointed ears caught the nearby screaming and yelping. So did the weird youkai girl, who got the you-are-so-annoying-that-I-feel-like-killing-you-but-you're-not-worth-it punch from Sesshoumaru, whose ears (which were large dog ears like Inuyasha, weirdly) jerked up like how a real dog would do.  
"NO! I CAN'T STAND THIS! AH!!! NO! I HATE THESE! UGH!!! NO!!!"  
The desperate screaming made Sesshoumaru rush to where Mika was and was very upset to find her clutching her head tightly and on the floor screaming about some dumb worm that had crawled next to her. He shuffled forward and stepped on the poor worm. It made a squishy sound, which made Mika squirm.  
"Is-is-is it dead yet?" She removed her fingers from her hair and cupped them over her eyes. She moved one aside, peeking through the opening.  
"What does it look like to you, miko?"  
"Eww... it looks like pink throw up with guts spilled out. Like a mushed spaghetti?" she described.  
"I didn't ask for you to literally describe it," he snapped. He lifted his foot and stood towering over the huddled Mika who examined the tiny dead worm cautiously, ready to bounce away if there was any sudden movement. And miraculous, the worm moved its head."  
"AHH!!!" her mouth went, and she launched onto Sesshoumaru clutching him tightly as if she'd never go. He stared at her, irritated, and tried to pry her hands away from his waist. Yet her girl fingers held tight on as ever.  
"How can you hit me, nao!!!" growled the dog girl. She leaped into the air, her short silver locks flying in the breeze, and transformed into a large dog. Falling onto the floor, Mika could hear by her weight that she was not much bigger than a horse or cart. She continued to cling onto Sesshoumaru's kimono. She felt safe next to him, and with a huge dog drooling at you, feeling safe was all that you wanted.  
Annoyed was the word for Sesshoumaru. Because of the priestess that was clinging on him, he couldn't move very fast. _I can just kick her off_, his mind suggested, but his growing compassion wouldn't let him do that.  
The snow white dog snarled, showing its pink gums and sharp white teeth, and clawed the soft earth. "Disturbing my meal, grrr; you'll know the consequences for that!!!" And again, she attempted to harm the daiyoukai, but did not succeed.  
For Sesshoumaru, of course, he could have killed the girl with just one finger if he wanted to. So he flicked his one and only free hand at the girl, the green illuminating whip rising from his fingertips and swung it at the medium-sized beast. As if a person had struck her down with a metal stick, the dog lay on the floor, whimpering like a beaten domestic puppy. Her ferocious form recoiled, and seconds later, there laid a girl with ears begging for mercy with tears.  
"I'll never forgive you for hurting Nao, nao!!!" the girl said, addressing herself with her own name not just "me". She dashed into the forests, leaving a cloud of smoke dirt in the coarse air.  
And speaking of cloud, the skies were beginning to fill up with its own dark clouds.  
Sesshoumaru glanced down at Mika. She had fallen asleep. He could easily pluck her arms off of himself now. Now that she was no longer clinging for her life on him, he carried her away from the village on his back, disappearing in his cloud of smoke.


	16. Episode 16

Episode 22: Nao! 'Cuz You're Hot Then You're Cold (Special POV again...)

My hands were getting sore. My arms wouldn't hold on any longer. I needed sleep.  
Also deep in my mind, I was nervous about my decision to leave Rin and Jaken alone. But by the time their names passed my mind, I believe I had passed out by then. I remember that I was being carried on Sesshoumaru's back, as he made his way out of the village that was sadly, massacred.

When you hear the rain, most people would huddle in the corner of the house or shelter or cave and watch the short-lived raindrops fall gracefully into the earth. But some, like myself, like to stand with the rain, and listen to their quick stories of life before they die in a splash.  
But today, I won't get the chance to listen to their stories.  
Outside the cave campsite, the clouds had once again danced their way back to this forest to cry again. This time, the wrath of the gods, the thunder was on its way.  
I could feel the bumps on the floor as Sesshoumaru walked swiftly back to the cave. Alas, it was too late. He didn't walk fast enough, for soon, I woke up with the water flooding in my face. It was a bit refreshing to feel wetness on my dry lips, and to feel my warm face being cooled away from the rain water, but no human can stay out in the rain for long before getting a cold. Soon, I was shivering and chattering my teeth while I clung onto his strong back.  
Finally, he reached the cave. He let me slip off his back and onto the floor in a sitting position, my face cold as ice. Though my body was cold, my heart was warm for some reason. I forced my eyelids to open. I twisted my head to my right side, spotting Rin and Jaken fast asleep. They were not even roused from the loud plats of the raindrops. Even Yukuro-san had her eyes closed, breathing peacefully with no difficulty. I tried to do the same. But I couldn't. I didn't want to dream any more.  
The fire in the center was still going strong. With my will, I stayed awake long enough to hold out my hands to the shining heat and dry my clothes.  
I gave in to the heavy weights on my eyes. I closed them, but didn't drop my zombie-like stance from the fire.

_'Omae-sama, why is the lightning so scary?' the girl asked. The wise woman kneeling next to her smiled and patted the curious girl's head. 'It's not the lightning you are scared of, but the thunder is it? It claps so loud because the gods sometimes are not pleased with the duties they have. Even the gods are stressed, Mika-chan,' the priestess replied. She grasped the bowl the little Mika was holding and filled the bowl with warm, generous helpings of congee. As they ate in silence, the little girl often peeked outside at the depressing black clouds spitting out the water they held in their fluffy bellies. _

_Uh... someone is... what was that dream...dream???_  
I jerked up. It was still raining. I sneezed suddenly and felt my face burn flames in my cheeks. I was embarrassed yet no one was looking; they were either resting their eyes or was too busy faking sleep. Sniffing, I was about to lie back down when a bright light ran across the sky. I turned my head and saw the flash of lightning. Foolishly, I thought that was it, just the lighting, but every lightning comes with clap of thunder. So after a few seconds the hammer of light crashed out there somewhere, the sound ramming into our ears like a teacher lecturing about things you can and can't do. But the sound was so loud, so sudden, if I still little, I think I would've urinated myself.  
Luckily, I didn't. I stood very quiet and still, my face white as a ghost. The light went across the sky again. Thunder followed suit.  
I almost opened my mouth to scream when I remembered in the nick of time that the others were sleeping. I bit my tongue to subside the noise from my throat and shut my eyes from the outside world.  
To me, it seemed like as if the clouds were fighting a war. The lightning would be the cries of the soldiers and the clapping thunder would be the clashes of metal against each other.  
I tried breathing slowly. I tried to think of falling leaves, or the autumn sky in the morning. But I'm such a wimp when it comes to thunder so I couldn't shut those images and horrible nightmares from my brain. My heart began pounding hard again.  
"Go away, go away, go away!!!" I whispered, echoing the words in my mind at the same time.  
_Everything is so scary at night..._

*************************

_'I'll be back soon, Sesshoumaru," Inu Taisho said.  
But he said. He didn't promise.  
'You lie," his son replied.  
'I'm not lying Sesshoumaru, I just have to visit someone that's all,' he assured him. He began to leave the room.  
His son was so small, just a bit taller than his waist, but he already learned distrust?  
__**Must have gotten that from his mother...**__  
'Bye,' he said, waving at his wife and his son. Sesshoumaru grimaced at Inu Taisho and walked outside. When he felt the winter air move across his face, he began to wonder why his father spent so long away from his home.  
__**I hate him. He never spends time with us. He always goes off somewhere saying, 'I'll be back soon' and 5 years later, he comes back to visit my mother only.**__ The thought didn't make Sesshoumaru feel any better. He tried to put himself in his father's shoes, reminding himself that he was busy doing things that were too complex for him to know. He sat there on a rock, just sitting there, waiting for the next year for his father to come. By the time night had come, the young puppy felt warm tears rolling down his cheeks. He was so weak back then..._

*************************

_'Nagato-chan, do you know what color he likes best?' Mika asked the light haired girl. The young lady turned and squatted next to Mika. 'I think he likes blue, personally,' she replied. She flushed with red and turned to face her love. The young boy blushed too and turned to the other way, avoiding her gaze. Mika frowned and pulled out a yellow kimono. 'I guess __**I'll**__ be wearing a yellow and red yukata tomorrow,' Mika shouted, loud enough for the lovebirds to hear.  
'Oh,' Nagato mumbled and giggled as she selected a beautiful green yukata from the box containing Omae and Nagato's mother's kimonos and yukatas.  
'Hey, does this look good on me?' she asked her "boyfriend", holding it in front of herself.  
'Yeah it does,' he replied, still avoiding her look.  
'You're not looking,' she cried and chased threw a bucket of water over his head. The boy ducked and snarled at the two.  
'Hey, I didn't do anything,' Mika exclaimed innocently.  
'COME BACK HERE NAGATO!!!' the boy barked, chasing after Nagato angrily, leaving a giggling Mika alone with the clothes. Then, when the backs of her friends were just a speck in the distance, she felt sorrow and sorry for herself.  
__**After all, I'm nobody... I'm nobody to **__**him**__**... **_

*************************

The moist air was damp on my face. I raised my eyelids and took in the air.  
_I'm always dreaming about the past... I wonder why... there must be something I regret... but I don't know any of those people..._  
Suddenly, I felt the urge to take a peek at Sesshoumaru. I always wanted to know how daiyoukai looked like when they fell asleep. I dropped my head onto my knees.  
_No I can't do that! What if he gets annoyed and..._  
_But, one look wouldn't hurt..._  
_Alright, I'll just take one peek. Just one peek..._  
I gulped and lifted my head.  
Sesshoumaru's head lay on the stone wall, his eyes closed tightly, his lips a little open to breath, and his eyebrows almost curving enough for an angry face but not quite.  
_Doesn't look much different..._  
The thunder clashed again.  
My mind couldn't help but commanded my throat and mouth to squeal. I squeaked a little cry, then immediately covered my mouth with my hands. The daiyoukai opened one eye to look at what was the noise.  
"Why are you still awake," he mumbled, running his hand through his still-damp hair.  
"When I sleep I get nightmares?"  
"Then dream about something else. Your squeaking is annoying. You sound like a mouse." He turned his head to the other side, frowning.  
"I'm also scared of the thunder," I admitted bravely. I was foolishly hoping that he would come invite me to lean on him or something. I was literally blushing at the thought of that.  
"Oh," he replied. I was a bit shocked to hear him say oh. I thought he would taunt me or something... The thunder crashed again. This time, I wasn't so scared. Having someone you admire helps the fear stay away.  
We glanced at each other, sitting on the stone floor in silence, the fire now burning out, the darkness beginning to swoop upon us.  
"Um," I began, sitting up straight, "can I lean on you just for a bit? I'm afraid I'll scream so loud I'll wake up the others. You know...dormant fear of lightning bolts..." I chuckled weakly. _I'm such a loser_, I told myself in my mind. _He's going to refuse,_ I thought. _He's going to refuse and tell me that, that is absurd._  
But what he told me was in fact, even shocking than him saying, "oh".  
"Fine."  
Checking around the dark area, I crawled over to Sesshoumaru's side and leaned on his shoulder. He was still wet, but to me, he was as warm as the sun. (well not literally like the sun or she'd be melting by now) I couldn't believe he let me stay by his side...  
The lightning and thunder was still flashing hard across the sky and booming loud across the forests. The rain still didn't let up, roaring across the trees, watering crops and plantations. Then I disturbed that "peaceful" moment with a very silly question. "Sesshoumaru, have you ever been afraid of the thunder?"  
The daiyoukai didn't reply. But he certainly was thinking.


	17. Episode 17

Episode 23 & 24: I Never Knew and The Village of Midoriko (Special POV)  
"Well?" my voice squeaked. I think I was really starting to sound like a mouse.  
"You ask too many questions," he pointed out.  
I shrugged my shoulders and stopped leaning on him. You never know when he'll get mad and start punching your face in.  
"Are you just saying that so you won't admit the truth?"  
"No," he replied quickly. He _was_ getting mad.  
"You can tell me, I won't tell anyone I know. I mean, the past is the past right?"  
"If it is the past, then why would you want to know?"  
_I have horrible people skills..._ I thought.  
"Just tell me, have you ever been a bit shocked at thunder? Like say you were small, and it was raining hard, and the thunder was crashing, and you never heard of it?"  
I waited for his answer. _I wonder if daiyoukai are honest?_

_**I'll be back soon...**__  
__**I miss you dad...**__  
'Sesshoumaru, come back inside. It's gonna rain,' his mother called. He grudgingly strolled back inside his home.  
'Were you waiting for him again?' She stroked his silver hair and looked into his golden eyes, smilingly warmly. 'You hungry?'  
'No,' he replied and pushed her hand away. He sat on the floor, facing the entrance, stubbornly waiting for Inu Taisho.  
'Sesshoumaru,' his mother said sharply, 'why are you so insistent on waiting for him? Why can't you listen to me once? He's not coming back!!!'  
__**You're lying. You always say that.**__  
His mother sat beside him and patted his head. Attempting to change the subject, she opened her mouth and said, 'Ever hear thunder?'  
'What?'  
'Thunder. Of course not right? You're still young...' She looked at the open entrance with her son. A flash of light blinded the room for a second. Then silence.  
'What was that?'  
A clap of thunder replied. He almost jumped up, but his face still retained its cool demeanor.  
'I'm not surprised you're scared. It is pretty loud,' she commented.  
'I'm not scared.'  
'You might not be, but others will.' She patted his head leisurely, and fondled his hair. 'Say Sesshoumaru, what kind of girls do you like?'  
Sesshoumaru continued to stare into space. But as his mother stroked his hair, and patted his back, he felt snug and safe, and began to fall asleep as if she were singing him a lullaby..._  
"Sesshoumaru?"  
I saw his eyes come back to reality. He looked at me, and looked away again.  
"No," he said after a flew sluggish moments.  
But when he said no, I could see his emotionless eyes shift to heavy sorrow for an instant...  
*POV for Mika and Episode 23 END*  
Note: It's two episodes combined because Episode 23 is so darn short. Boohoo.  
***********Kikyo POV**********  
I felt insecure at the village I came upon. All the villagers were unfriendly and seemed to be afraid of the cave that lay at the end of the town.I had come across this village 3 day ago while searching for Naraku. So far, no one had given me a warm welcome. I assumed something big and bad happened to the town, and tried to be as nice as I could to the people, yet they all seemed standoffish and such.

"Kikyo is your name is it?" the village chief questioned, his mustache moving as he spoke.  
"Yes," I answered politely, and keeping track of all his movements. "I'm a traveling miko, and I was wondering if there is anything I could do to help this village."  
The village chief gave me a frown and shook his head immediately. "No, there's nothing you need to do."  
"I see. Then I will make my leave tomorrow," I said, standing up and exiting the hut. As I left the village, I heard the village chief change his mind. He grabbed my shoulder and said, "Well, Kikyo-sama, I have only one request."

"You see, this village used to be bustling with merchants even around the time when Midoriko-sama was a child," the chief explained, showing me the town around.  
"Midoriko-sama? The great priestess was born here?"  
"Yes, this was her hometown," he continued. "After many years when Midoriko-sama had died and given birth to the Shikon no Tama, a very young girl came to this village wearing strange clothes. Omae-sama, a young miko just 15 at that time took in this girl and treated her as a daughter. But I tell you, that girl was nothing but trouble."  
Kikyo grimaced at the thought of the Shikon no Tama, the object of wishes that had caused her wishes and life to end. "What did she do?"  
"She gave us bad luck! Every month, a whole horde of youkai would come down and ruin the crops and houses, and Omae-sama had to drive them off! There was also a time when the girl almost killed one of our children! She would apologize but I could see the dangerous intent in her eyes!!!"  
"And then?"  
"After the village learned of her sin, the girl would sit by herself by the pool, pretending to cry, so someone would pity her. Eventually, the village forgot about this incident and they began to welcome her in as a fellow villager. Just when things were getting better, she gave us bad luck again." The chief paused to take a breath.  
"One day when she went to the mountains, all the youkai in this region stormed this village, claiming that they were looking for the Shikon no Tama. Then when the girl came back with her "friends", they killed everyone to threaten her to give them the ball. We told her to give it to them, but she refused and said she didn't. So the youkai killed my mother and father and began to attack. They slashed at her stomach until a black jewel spewed out from her body. The youkai began to fight each other for the possession of this jewel but a centipede youkai sneaked up behind the bleeding girl and stole it.  
"Then after that, bandits stormed into our village. They killed most of the remaining people, and forced one of our young lads to kill them back. After that, everyone left, the families and the girl. As soon as she left, we began to build our village back, piece by piece. But if she didn't come in the first place, that wouldn't have happened!!!"  
"I...I see..." I mumbled. "What would you want me to do?"  
"You know that cave at the end of this town? Will you take a look at it?"  
"Is there something wrong with that cave?"  
"I don't know... will you do it?"  
"That I will do," I replied and walked away.


	18. Episode 18: Ray of Life

Episode 25: I'll Only Cry For You

The next day, the rain and wet floors miraculously disappeared. Perhaps it was the trees that had drank all that they could, or maybe the sun was working as hard as she could to dry up the land for Sesshoumaru and his group. But to Mika, she believed it was just luck.  
As they exited the cave with sleepy eyed Yukuro, Mika couldn't help but blush every time she heard Sesshoumaru's voice.  
After all, yesterday, she was literally leaning on his shoulder. What kind of action like that would be qualified as a friend?  
She was hypnotized until she noticed a hand waving in front of her face.  
"Mika? Are you alright? You're like blushing crazy--ARE YOU SQUEALING?" Yukuro cried, when she noticed Mika shaking her head and squealing with embarrassment.  
And squeal she did. Until something or rather a someone fell on her. It was the wild dog girl, who was sitting on top of Mika's head. Though she probably weighed more than 90 pounds, Mika's head did not fall off her shoulders.  
"Nao!!! I won't ever accept my defeat nao!!! You'll pay, you pretty boy!" The wild dog girl jumped on Mika's head again, her toes messing her well kept bangs that fell on her forehead.  
She landed onto the floor gently. She had changed her clothes, for she was wearing a short blue kimono with short sleeves and a yellow obi tied on her waist with the bow in the front. Her feet were bare, immune to the pain the sharp rocks provided.  
Obviously, if you were a man of pride and dignity, if someone called you pretty boy, you would be furious! And Sesshoumaru definitely was not going to let this slide by.  
"What did you call me?"  
Jaken gulped. _Please don't smile_, he pleaded silently.  
"I called you pretty boy, is that so bad, nao?"  
Sesshoumaru smirked. Jaken fell to the floor pounding, as hard as he could. "SESSHOUMARU-SAMA! I BEG YOU! DON'T SMILE! IF YOU WANT, YOU CAN HIT ME! YOU CAN--"  
The daiyoukai stepped over him, shutting out his desperate cries and took out Tokijin. The sword was cold, because Sesshoumaru hadn't touched it for a while, so it radiated no heat. Using his superhuman speed, he dashed across the rocky floor, leaving after images of himself.  
"Oh my lord, Mika, let's go somewhere safer!" begged Yukuro, pulling on Mika's sleeve. But her face was still and pale, as if she had just witnessed murder.  
"Mika-san? What's wrong," Rin asked worriedly.  
But the 17-year old miko couldn't hear her. She could only hear the yells of non-existent running humans and screams of terror from children that came from her dreams. When Sesshoumaru thrust his sword at the girl, Mika shouted as if she had lost it.  
"Stop it!!!" she yelled, and fell down to her knees, clasping her head with her two hands. Yukuro stood beside her, eyes wide with fear at the unexpected cry from the silent and blushing miko.  
And Sesshoumaru did stop, with a surprised look as well. The wild dog girl took this chance and scratched wildly and his face. He jumped away, the blood dripping from his cheek.  
"Mika! What's wrong???"  
"No... stop it! Don't kill anymore..."  
"What are you talking about? Mika!" Yukuro knelt down and struck at her face. Like a puppet, Mika collapsed onto the floor, her eyes filled with childish fear.  
"I'm sorry..."  
"Why in the world would you scream when someone's fighting? What happened?"  
"I don't know... I just saw something horrible, someone was killing--"  
"Mika," Yukuro exclaimed gently, "you must have been hallucinating the past or something. No one's killing anyone. Look around for yourself."  
"No but he was--"  
"Mika!"  
Yukuro forced her clasped hands off of her head and made Mika look around. The only ones present were Rin, Jaken, Ah-Un, Sesshoumaru, the wild dog girl, Yukuro and herself. No screaming villagers and terrorized children lay anywhere. It was an illusion.  
"Maybe you should take a nap for now," she suggested.  
"How can I take a nap when Sesshoumaru's fighting that--" Mika spoke angrily and gasped. "I-I'm back to normal again!"  
"Yah, you're normal again. Too normal," she teased and dragged her away from the dog fight.  
Even though the wild dog girl had clawed successfully at his face, arm, and neck, Sesshoumaru had the upper hand. He was way faster than her jerky movements, and he landed bruising attacks on her body with just air pressure from his sword gracefully. Soon, the dog girl fell onto the floor, sadly defeated.  
"No, nao! I cannot lose to a pretty boy like you, nao!!! No, no, no, no!!!" She beat the floor with her fists like a mad child.  
"Just admit it, you lost to the Great Sesshoumaru-sama," Jaken bragged for Sesshoumaru, grinning as if it were his victory. The daiyoukai sheathed his sword back into his sash and began walking away from the dog girl.  
"Wait pretty boy!" the girl called out.  
"His name is Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken replied angrily at her.  
"May I have your name?" she asked, completely ignoring Jaken's desperate attempts to tell her Sesshoumaru's name. Nevertheless, Sesshoumaru continued walking, and mumbled, "Jaken can tell you."  
"Well you have to remember my name, nao! It's Nao!"  
"Isn't that obvious? You've been saying it all along," Mika grumbled, and got up from her knees. She tugged Rin and Yukuro's arms and said cheerfully, "Let's go!"  
Nao grimaced at the happy group (the only unhappy people were Jaken and Sesshoumaru). _Why, nao, are they so happy? I'll sabotage their cheerfulness, nao! I swear on my tail that I will get that Fluffy guy, nao!!!_ She nodded her head at a plan forming in her mind and walked the opposite direction from Sesshoumaru.

"Promise me you won't look, Sesshoumaru!!!" Mika cried as they spotted a wide river ahead, hidden by the forest trees.  
"Why would I look?"  
"Because all _men_ peek at girls while they bathe! And since you're the Great Sesshoumaru, I'm just warning you, I will kill you if you take one stinking peek at me!!!"  
"I have no interest in your body," he answered with genuine boredom in his tone.  
"What about mine?" Yukuro asked teasingly.  
"Definitely not."  
"Okay, let's go Rin-chan. AND MAKE SURE YOU STAY ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!"  
"Hmmph, acting so smug. Sesshoumaru-sama isn't of that lowly type. You won't do that of course right?" Jaken questioned, looking up at the daiyoukai sitting peacefully on the rock.  
No reply came from Sesshoumaru.  
"Um, Sesshoumaru-sama, you aren't thinking about doing that for real are you?"  
The usual angry reply was the usual angry punch directly in his face.

"I stink like dog and snake and dirt!!!" Mika declared, pouring the water all over her head.  
"I never took a bath," Yukuro stated, dipping her foot with her clothes on. She looked at the shocked Mika. "Well, at least not these last two weeks."  
"Uh huh. Ah... the water is so nice..." Mika slipped her entire body into the deep river, the water up to her neck.  
"The water is so cold," commented Rin, and climbed out the water, her kimono damp with water.  
"Have you guys ever took a bath? You're not supposed to get in the water with clothes on!"  
"I'm sure we both have, I just feel uncomfortable with men around," Yukuro said.  
"Oh, but the Great Sesshoumaru isn't human, remember? Besides, I'm sure he's too high of a status to peek at two human girls and a snake."  
"You say that, but you never know what crazy thing will happen..."  
"Nothing will happen. I'm sure of it--"  
"Mika, look beyond the trees and at Sesshoumaru. Isn't that the Nao girl?"  
The bathing priestess's attention was caught and soon her eyes were on Sesshoumaru and the Nao who was growling and snarling at him.  
"I wonder what Sesshoumaru-sama is doing," Rin said.  
"Probably proposing to her," joked Yukuro. There was silence before Mika gave her a weird look (cross between a mad and worried look).  
"What? He's not going to kneel for you and ask you to marry you. Come on, you're a human!"  
"I never said I wanted that dog to marry me."  
"Ah, she scratched him. Now she hugged him. Now she k--"  
"ARGH!!!" Mika barked, and rushed out of the water without bothering to hide herself or such.  
"MIKA! WHERE ARE YOU GOING NAKED??? MIKA?" Yukuro yelled after her. But the strange miko pulled a huge rock from the ground and threw it at the dog girl. Dodging at the right time, the rock missed Nao, and she sprinted away into the nearby corners.  
"UGH!!! I HATE HER! I HOPE SHE DIES!!! WHAT YOU LOOKING AT?" Mika screamed, glancing at the wide eye Sesshoumaru.  
"Nothing."  
Steam came out of her ears and she fell to the floor blushing. "AHH! I FORGOT I WAS NAKED! YOU PERVERT!!!" She ran over to Sesshoumaru and gave him an unfair welcome with the SLAP.

"All men are dirty. Remember that Rin-chan," Mika mumbled, the fury inside her almost exploding.  
"What does dirty mean?"  
"It means that they never take showers and their always covered in dirt," explained Yukuro, trying to change the subject. She slowed her pace to Mika's. "Hey, don't teach the little girl things like that!"  
"Hmph! It's not my fault that every male person likes peeping at girls," Mika said loud enough for everyone in the group to hear.  
Up ahead, Jaken staggered his way to the daiyoukai. "Sesshoumaru-sama, I'm sure you heard, but she's blaming you for this even though it wasn't your fault! Are you going let this one pass by?" (Side note: Jaken, I suggest you shouldn't talk to him right now--)  
Sesshoumaru stopped walking and showed his wrath. His face still was imprinted with the red hand mark, and his eyes were burning with flames. He gave Jaken his common response; only this time, Jaken barely escaped death.  
"I don't care," he snarled. "Get out of my sight or I'll kill you," he added, so mad that it was just muffled words. Jaken felt a lump fall through his throat. He squeaked and cantered all the way back to where Mika, Rin, and Yukuro were walking.  
"Thanks to you, Sesshoumaru-sama almost killed me, you stupid human priestess!" Jaken whispered.  
Mika halted too, and gave him a scarier gaze and got him by the neck and began strangling him.  
"Okay, okay--I won't talk anymore! Please don't kill me!!!"  
"Good," she growled, "cause I DEFINITELY WILL next time!!!" She punched the toad begging for mercy and flung him behind her. Yukuro and Rin got the message and stepped way back; the daiyoukai and miko were in a killing mood.  
"All mad mikos and dogs are evil. Remember that Rin," Yukuro whispered and got a responding nod from her.

"BWAHAHA! I got them pretty mad... now I need the snake to do something for me...hee hee," cackled Nao, and she rubbed her hands together. "See how you like my next plan, _Sesshoumaru_."

When night began to settle, and the sun began to drop, the group finally took a rest at the edge of the forest, where the grassy plains started to show. Typically, Rin and Jaken would be making the fire and cooking dinner, but the mood was so bleak and joyless, not even the tummy grumbles could move the two and Yukuro.  
"You guys sure you don't want to go fishing or looking for edible mushrooms? We are seriously going to starve if we don't get up." Yukuro reasoned, making an effort to persuade the two to get something eat. She turned to Mika.  
"Mika, stop being so foolish and make up with him! It wasn't his fault anyway," she pleaded. But the miko stayed silent.  
"Don't you dare give me the silent treatment! Answer me!!!"  
Still, she didn't answer and the mood became even more morbid. Soon, Yukuro had the last straw.  
"That's it!!! Fine, stay stubborn! I don't give a rat's nose about who lives and dies here!" Yukuro stormed off back into the forest, leaving the three alone.

"BWAHAHA! That makes it four! Now I think I need the miko to leave... AHH! HOW DID YOU KNOW--" Nao shouted, kicking the air as someone picked her up by her shoulder.  
"I could see the heat coming from the bushes. I'm a snake remember? Did you think I was stupid enough to fall into your stupid little plan???" Dragging the wild dog back to the campsite triumphantly, she waved to the gloomy group.  
"Are you still mad Mika?"  
"YES! I AM STILL MAD!" she barked in response. Yukuro decided to ignore her for the rest of today.  
"Well you should stop being mad. Nao planned it all, you know."  
"I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE UP WITH HIM!!!"  
"Oh come on, every time you get mad at him, you forgive him after you see his "sad" eyes."  
"NOT THIS TIME!"  
"Oh come on now, every time it starts to rain, you get all romantic with him!"  
Mika's face turned berry crimson from her fierce madness. "It's not raining now," she said, smiling sinisterly at Yukuro.  
"Oh come on now, its all going to magically rain, and then you will crawl under his arms and start looking at him and then he will propose to you, and then it will be all happy forever."  
"I'm warning you," she threatened, pointing rudely at her.  
"Oh come on now, you're going to fall in love with him, and then you'll be thinking when its raining, "ah he's so hot"."  
"I think you should stop insulting her now," Jaken whispered, for the first time in the gloomy mood.

Eventually, the others began to complain.  
"You stupid miko, hurry up and go apologize! We're all going starve to death if you so stubbornly refuse to make up!" Jaken rambled, throwing his staff around. But Mika stayed mad. Very mad.  
"I wish it would rain, and then everyone would be all happy," Rin said.  
"Raining would do any good," Yukuro replied, and rested her head on her hand. "If it rained, I bet Mika would in a worse mood." She turned to Mika for the final time.  
"Mika, just go up to him and say you're sorry! I know you aren't like this!"  
She didn't reply. Mika twisted her head to the daiyoukai who sat alone away from the group the entire minutes.  
Finally, she whispered, "Okay, but just once." She stood up and made her way to Sesshoumaru.

"Hey, Sesshoumaru?" Mika started, trying to smile warmly at him. But her muscles stayed put.  
"If I see your face again, I'll drown you in the river," he snapped, frowning at the floor. Mika grimaced.  
_This is all my fault..._  
"I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault. It was Nao-san's, wasn't it? I don't blame you. I was just--"  
"Jealous?" he piped up. Mika pouted and sat next to him.  
"No, I was just having one of my bad days."  
"Hm."  
The wind swayed across the grass and onto Mika's spine. Whenever she sat next to him, he never said more than three words, but the eyes; when she looked into his eyes, he seemed to tell more than his mouth would say. That's the part she liked the most...his golden eyes that shone even in the darkest cave...  
"It's going to rain," he suddenly spoke, as if he knew the weather like the back of his hand.  
"What? There are no clouds, so how can there be possibly rain?"  
"You'll see," he said, his voice softening from anger.  
"I hate you... you smooth talker," Mika said, looking away, knowing she was blushing hard.  
"I didn't say anything."  
"You're saying something now," she pointed out. She continued to stare at the floor too.  
"Hm," he mumbled.

"Hey, you toad," Yukuro called out to Jaken.  
"I have a name???"  
"Has Sesshoumaru ever courted a girl?"  
"What does court mean?" Rin asked.  
Jaken ignored Rin and clamped his beak like mouth. "Of-of course he has! He succeeded in every one just that he lost interest after that!!!"  
"You're lying, I bet out of his short life he didn't get even one girl," Yukuro exclaimed, smiling slyly.  
"Stupid snake, making fun of me," Jaken murmured and turned to the other way.  
"Oh, do you want this stupid snake to bite you? I'm one of the poisonous ones..."  
Jaken pouted. "Stay away," he snapped.

And sure enough, Sesshoumaru's hypothesis came true. The same morose clouds ran across the skies, ready to pour down. Mika gulped, wondering if the clouds held thunder.  
"I've never seen anyone scared of the clouds as much as you," the daiyoukai commented.  
"I-I am not scared of clouds! I just have a little fear of thunder," she retorted, swallowing another lump. The clouds gave a flash of light. Then the common thunder followed.  
"AH!" she went and clasped onto Sesshoumaru, who was the only thing in sight that seemed warm and safe. She shut her eyes tight, as if it darkness could consume the sound away. "Is... has it stopped yet?"  
"Of course not," his voice responded. "Stop thinking about it."  
"But..." Mika opened her eyelids and felt the drops of rain plummet on her cheek.  
_What am I doing? Just hugging someone like this..._  
****Elfen Lied DVD Menu Version Song Begins Here*****  
_'No... please don't leave... Nagato-chan's going to miss you, and so will I... I beg you...' As he caressed her and as she cried out reasons why he shouldn't leave, he began to unsheathe a pocket knife from his sleeve.  
"Remember what Omae said about your neck?"  
But she didn't care. She continued to cry softly, begging with whispers.  
As tears rolled down both of their cheeks, he stabbed the knife softly into the side of her neck and let her fall to her knees.  
'No...why...' She pressed her hand on the fountain of blood spewing out of her neck.  
'I'm not the same person.'  
She winced as the pain rain through her body. Yet she used all her might to stay standing. 'Shikon no Tama-- is that what has caused you to change???'  
'Who knows. We all have demons inside of us. Even you..." He began to walk away, his footsteps ghostly fading away.  
'Wait! Please... don't--' she yelled out, but soon the mist and shadows consumed him. She collapsed on her stomach, the pain in her throat so painful...  
'Why... you said you'll be my friend... was that a lie? Why??? I love you so much...please...' Her voice faded away, as she started to die, as her heart began to pump slower, her blood running out.  
__**So I was fated to just die here? Is that my destiny?**__  
'How pitiful you look,' someone said in front of her. 'I never knew humans looked so much like trash when they lie on the floor so hopeless,' the person said.  
__**Who is it? That voice... is it him?**__  
The pressure she kept on her neck lessened and the blood spilled out everywhere. When she could no longer see, and stopped breathing, a hand so warm, yet so cold touched hers, and stopped the blood from flowing.  
'I'll save you only once, miko,' the man said.  
And strangely, even though she couldn't hear his voice, she felt happiness spread through her body. As she lay there dying with his hand pressed on her neck, she was glad to know that he come, to save her useless life.  
'Thank you,' were her last words she mouthed before she went limp without life._

Without reason, Mika smiled. She smiled as she clung onto the daiyoukai, her eyes closed once more. Then all of a sudden, Sesshoumaru opened his mouth and spoke, "Why were you crying?"  
_Crying? When?_  
"Since when did I cry for you?"  
"You were crying," he insisted. The thunder clapped, but Mika no longer could hear it.  
"Crying huh... I thought that was a dream..."  
"No, that wasn't a dream."  
"I just felt like crying okay? It's none of your business--"  
"I get it," he whispered, patting her head just the way like his mother used to pat his.  
_You make me want to cry right now..._


	19. Episode 19

Episode 26: The Last Lullaby

No one ever patted her head. No, not even her mother. Not even her own father!  
She had a brother. But he was always chasing and courting girls, so it not very often Mika would see him.  
But then again, how would she know?  
Mika didn't remember her family.  
She forgot. She simply forgot.  
Perhaps it was amnesia. Or maybe she was so caught up in her messed up life, she wouldn't remember her old life.  
She didn't remember _him_ either. It was too gory, too grotesque, too horrible to remember.  
She only remembered her mentor's lullaby. The lullaby she used to sing to Mika.  
Her singsong voice would often bounce in her mind, the words so angelic.  
_Sleep, my child  
Forget today, live tomorrow  
Remember only my name and yours  
Sleep, my child  
We'll sing again tomorrow..._

_'Mika-chan, have you ever noticed he acts so strange these days?' asked the light brown haired girl, dancing around the lake where the reeds grew every hour.  
'Yes, I have,' she replied.  
The girl stopped dancing. 'Do you think he'll still talk to me?'  
Mika grinned. 'Of course! You're the prettiest girl in the village.'  
'You're just flattering me!' The girl chuckled and picked a reed from the bank. 'If we ever get married...'  
'Oh no, not this again...'  
'I think I'll have a girl and a boy for equal measure... a big manor, surrounded by flowers and me and him...'  
Mika turned away from the girl with brown hair. __**I'm glad Nagato-chan isn't mad at me anymore...but...I...**___

'Hey, Mika-chan...' Nagato said, her voice sad and soft. 'Do you think he'll ever come back?'  
This time, Mika didn't have a positive answer. 'I don't know.'  
'Do you think we'll ever see him again? Did he say anything about us?'  
'I don't know.'  
Nagato scowled and turned to Mika. 'What do you mean you don't know??? You were the last person to see him!'  
'But he didn't tell me anything. He just told me he changed...' Mika touched the side of her neck.  
'And then he told you to stab your neck so no one will ever know? Yeah, what a believable lie. Just the part where he leaves is just unbelievable.'  
'If you were leaving, obviously you don't want people searching for you!'  
'Then how did you survive? If you stab yourself in the neck, you'll die from the loss of blood,' she exclaimed, her words pricking at Mika's mind. Her tone was so mad sounding, it seemed as if she wanted her to not survive.  
'Someone saved me at the nick of time.'  
'Mika!!! Tell me what really happened!!!' she yelled, jumping up to her feet. Staring back at her with fierce eyes, Mika felt fear.  
'I--'  
'If only you tried harder...if only you tried harder, maybe he wouldn't have left!!!'  
'Nagato-chan, why are you blaming everything on me???'  
'Or maybe, he didn't leave, maybe you killed him!!!' Nagato's voice now stormed across Mika's ears. Mika felt like breaking into a million pieces.  
'How--how can you say that?'  
'I can say it because I have proof. You once tried to kill me! I bet you were jealous just because you don't have a boyfriend!'  
'Nagato-chan...you--'  
'If I was there, he would still be standing here talking to us! And the entire village wouldn't be like this!'  
'Why--Nagato, I would never do anything like that!' persisted Mika. Nagato gritted her teeth and took off her sandal. She flung the sandal at Mika with fires emitting in her eyes.  
'Shut up! Stop trying to be so innocent! You made him leave! YOU MADE HIM LEAVE!!!'  
'Nagato! Stop what are you--' Mika started, but she was too busy trying to pry off of Nagato's hands off her neck.  
'I'll have revenge for his death!!!'  
'Nagato--you've got it all wrong! Please--stop!!!'  
'Shut up, shut up, shut up!!!'  
'Nagato...' Mika's wound on her neck began to widen. Mika could feel her blood ready to burst again. And even worse, she couldn't even take a breath. She felt as if all the air inside her was about to explode.  
'You're an oni! You should have never been born!'  
By this time, Mika really could not breathe.  
'Nagato!!!' someone called out. Nagato's eyes flashed without color for a second, and she let go of Mika. The young priestess fell to the floor, her mind horrified. She looked up and saw a worried Omae wide eyed, standing in front of them. Nagato couldn't find the words to speak.  
'Mika-chan...what have you done Nagato?'  
'Shut up! Mika killed him! I just know it!!!'  
'What are you talking about??? Stop making false claims!' She sprinted over, struck her across the face and picked Mika onto her lap. 'My poor child...'  
'Omae-sama...I...I...'  
'Shh...it's alright...'  
'No, it's not alright! It's my fault he left! If--' Mika's voice was muffled by the tears that began rushing through, 'if I never came, none of this would've happened!!!'  
'Mika--'  
'If I never was born, no one would've have gotten hurt. If only, I was never alive, the Shikon no Tama would've never came back and wreck havoc again... it's all my fault...'  
'Mika stop hating yourself! It's none of your fault! What Nagato said wasn't true...'  
'I love him...yet I can't love him...'  
'Mika, you love--' Nagato started, but stopped her comment before she said too much.  
'I don't have a place in this world. Just kill me! I don't want to live! I don't want to trouble you anymore!!!' Mika pushed Omae's hand away, and tore off the bandages on her neck. She began punching her wound, tears flowing down, trying to erase the pain she was doing to herself. Omae desperately tried to stop her, but Mika wouldn't--the pain was just so unbearable...  
'I don't want to live! You should have never saved me... you should have let me die... WHY!!!' Her hand stopped and fell to the floor. Fresh blood was spilled onto her clothes again.  
Nagato knelt to the floor and crawled her way to Mika. Guilt soared into her body, the tears rolling down her cheeks too. Suddenly, Omae gasped.  
'Mika? Mika??? MIKA! Are you sleeping? Don't pull a joke on us!!! MIKA!!!'  
'Dead again?' someone said.  
Nagato let her attention drift up from the young miko.  
Standing in front of them was Inu Taisho's eldest son, Sesshoumaru, with his left arm intact, of course.  
'Who are you,' Omae snapped.  
He didn't reply. Mika's mouth moved. She was still alive.  
'Sesshoumaru? Is that your name? It sounds so cool...I wish I was as strong as you, Sesshoumaru-sama...'  
'HEY! Don't call him Sesshoumaru-sama, you lowly human!!!' a green toad cried. But it seemed as if his cry wasn't as mean as it should have been.  
'You should stop killing yourself, miko,' he said, turning away. 'That was the last time I save you. And this is the last time I'll see you. The next time, be prepared to die.'  
'Wait, come back here!!!' Omae exclaimed. She turned to Mika, whose eyes were beginning to droop.  
'Omae-sensei...can you sing that song for me?'  
'Song?' Nagato said, her voice barely audible. 'We need to get you to the doctor!'  
'Alright,' Omae agreed. The wind swayed across the field, the grass almost dancing, and when the wind started to slow, she began to sing in a slow, sad rhythm.  
_**Sleep, my child  
Forget today, live tomorrow  
Remember only my name and yours  
Sleep, my child  
We'll sing again tomorrow  
If you sleep, my child  
I'll let you sleep in the woven bed of reeds  
And let you listen to the falling rain  
So sleep, my child  
My blessed child of the heavens...  
Sleep...**___

'Who are you?' Mika said, when she woke up in her bed.  
'Mika-chan...' Nagato whispered, as shocked as Omae was, 'I'm Nagato, remember?'  
'I've never seen you before...' She turned her head to Omae. 'Are you Omae-sensei?'  
'Yes...'  
'Ah, Omae-sensei, can you tell me who is this person here?'  
'That's Nagato-chan...don't you remember?'  
'Remember what? I don't even remember who I am.'  
'You're Mika-chan! You...'  
'I really don't know anyone here. I'm sorry, I must have bothered you. I will be on my way.' Mika got up from her futon and left the village, staggering.  
'May I take that bow and arrow please? I believe I will need a weapon...' Mika asked politely from a confused villager.  
'Mika-chan...has changed...' Nagato commented.  
'Yes...she has...'


	20. Episode 20

Episode 27: Nao! You're My Prince Charming?

"You little heart breaker!!!" teased Yukuro, as they walked alongside Sesshoumaru and the others. "So Mika, what move did you use to seduce him?"  
"What are you talking about???" she snapped and closed her eyes. The day was so close she could still taste the rain on her lips. Well, it _was_ only yesterday...  
"If you ask me, he seems like he'll fall for you any moment now."  
"Oh what do you know???" Mika grumbled and looked up. She never got tired watching his back.  
"NAO POLEON DYNAMITE!!!" (This belongs to the people who created Napoleon Dynamite) Nao's voice ran across the grassy plains. Nao hopped into the sky and landed on Mika's head, again.  
"This is the last time I get humiliated by you freaks!!!" Snarling like a savage beast, she let her youki explode from within. The demonic aura surrounded her, her hair growing wildly out of place, teeth enlarging and growing sharper in her mouth, and her claws long as a tiger's fangs.  
In minutes, she transformed into her true form; an enormous, wild canine who sneered at her prey with her ferocious fangs.  
"Holy moly," gasped Yukuro, her hand over her mouth. "Who's going to fight that?"  
A reply came from the young miko. "Me, that's who!" She seized an arrow from her quiver and strung an arrow. When her aim was straight, she waited for Nao to jump into the air or slash at something. When the wild dog finally made her move, she shot the arrow, and hit her right arm successfully.  
"ARGH!" the dog moaned, and eyed menacingly at Mika. Yet the miko calmly prepared another arrow. The dog continued to charge at her foolishly. Mika let go of the second arrow, and this time, with her powers fused in with the arrow.  
The demon dog tried to dodge the incoming light, and sacrificed her left arm. It stung her flesh, staining her white fur with crimson liquid. But she persisted the pain and did not stop her rampage. She leaped into the air using her powerful hind legs, and before Mika to take out another arrow, she struck her with a paw, and sent Mika flying across the grass plains.  
Splattered blood lay across Mika's priestess clothes. She struggled to get up. Her ankle began hurting once more.  
_Not at a time like this..._  
"I'm not giving up...I'm not giving up!" she scolded herself, and pushed her body from the green grass. Leaning on her good leg, she gritted her teeth and let her right hand build up clumps of spiritual power. Faintly, a blueish, whitish light glowed from her hand, and moving her attention to Nao, she struggled to move her legs toward her.  
"Foolish girl," the canine growled, her acid saliva falling from her snout.  
The two females charged at each other, their minds on intent on killing each other.  
Then, with superhuman speed, Sesshoumaru punched Nao away into the sky and pushed Mika to the floor. He gave a look at both of them, his eyes telling them to stop, and then walked away without more than a word.

_He inherited his dad's looks, but my old personality..._

Mika still felt the force of his hand on her shoulder when the daiyoukai pushed her to the floor. It seemed as if he flicked her away, his muscles barely working power when he knocked her off her feet.  
_He may be quiet, but he talks a lot in a way... he's kinda cool..._  
Grinning, she got up and began following Sesshoumaru when she heard Nao sobbing in the background.  
"It's not fair...its not fair...I got beaten, I got beaten by a dog....I got beaten--"  
"He is the Ruler of the Western lands of course!!!" Jaken yelled, throwing the Staff of Heads in the air. It boinked on his forehead, leaving him unconscious for a few seconds. Mika shook her head and held out her hand to Nao. "Here, let me help you up," she offered. But Nao snarled and bit at her hand like a rabid beast. (well she is a dog)  
"Get away from me, you stupid miko!!!" she cried and ran away into her forests that were meters away from them.  
Mika made no attempt to go after her, and retracted her hand. Shaking her head once more, she pulled on Jaken's kimono sleeve and dragged him away. "Let's go you toad," she said.

When Nao was far away from them, she crept into her makeshift den. Inside were jars and jars of herbs and preserved meat from her prey. On the stone walls and on the floor were skinned furs from wolves and foxes who foolishly challenged her to battles, in which she won. When Sesshoumaru had defeated her for the third time, all her will was broken.  
In the corner was a pile of kimonos and yukutas she had looted from nearby villages all bunched up so it was sort of a pillow. Nao fell onto her clothes and cried. And cried. She wept and sobbed until her eyes turned red from crying, until her tear glands couldn't produce anymore water.  
"How could I lose against a mere dog? When I am such a ruler of this land???" She wiped her eyes and sat there, thoughts flowing into her mind...  
_Nao, listen to Grandma; if there is someone stronger than you, you must grow stronger to defeat this person. But--if it is a man, then he will be--_  
"Nao-sama?" a small croaky voice called out. Nao raised her head and spotted a tiny fox demon stepping onto her furs. His fur was of orange and brown, and his hair was tied in a black tuft.  
"What do you want," she whispered, swallowing sobs when she opened her mouth.  
"Oh Nao-sama, what is ever the matter? Why are you crying?"  
Nao grimaced and pounded the clothes. "A dumb dog daiyoukai defeated me in combat. I can't take this anymore!"  
"Do you know his name?"  
"Sesshoumaru," she growled, and watch the fox's eyes enlarge. "Sesshoumaru?" he repeated. He said the name again. "Sesshoumaru...isn't he--"  
"What? What is so great about him? How come you know him and I don't?"  
"If I recall, Sesshoumaru is the son of Inu Taisho, the great dog demon that ruled over the Western Lands," the fox explained.  
"So what if he's a noble lord??? I don't care...I feel humiliated..."  
"Oh Nao-sama, don't cry. He can't be that strong! I mean his brother, a mere hanyou defeated Ryūkotsusei, who Inu Taisho could not kill! And the reason why that daiyoukai has only one arm was because of that hanyou! Look at him! He is below a hanyou--"  
"Oh do shut your mouth! Just knowing he's weaker than a half-breed makes me feel even worse! I was defeated by such low trash..." Nao wept some more, the tears covering her pale complexion. Then she spoke again. "Sune," she exclaimed gently, saying the fox's name, "go find me Inuyasha. I want to ask him something."  
Sune nodded his head in understanding. "Wakarimashta Nao-sama," he said and left the cave, flying the skies for Inuyasha.

The smell of fox flew through Inuyasha's nose. "Smells like kitsunes," he commented.  
Shippo jumped up on Kagome's shoulder. "I didn't fart!"  
"Not you dummy," he growled and sniffed the air again.  
"Is it the medicine herb seller?" Miroku asked, with almost a nervous tone.  
"NO I JUST SAID IT SMELLED LIKE FOXES!!!"  
"Inuyasha, osuwari!" Kagome shouted and Inuyasha fell to the floor. She knelt down, her eyes closed, and her mouth a grin. "Now tell us slowly, and more gently," she demanded.  
"No need miko," Sune's voice came from the air. He was riding a large leaf that he probably used fox magic to enlarge. The kitsune leaped onto the floor, the leaf flying back into his hand. "Nao-sama wishes to see you Inuyasha."  
"What???" he asked quizzically.  
"Nao-sama, the Great Wild Dog, ruler of the forests!"  
Miroku and Sango began chuckling behind their hands. "What a lame name," Miroku managed to whisper between their laughs. Sango stopped laughing and said, "That's not nice Houshi-sama!"  
"Well it is--"  
"It doesn't matter houshi, taijiya," the wild dog's voice stormed in their ears. Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kirara turned their attention from Sune and saw Nao standing there with a frown.  
"Sesshoumaru is your brother is it," questioned Nao, still scowling.  
"And?" Inuyasha barked, and scratched the back of his puppy ear.  
"I want to know how you defeated him" was all she said.  
Inuyasha gave a glance at Kagome. She shrugged her shoulders.  
"You don't know?" the canine said again.  
"No, I just have a better sword than him. Bwahaha!" he laughed.  
The bead of sweat fell down her forehead. "Fine," she spat out, and began to walk away when she smelled the familiar inu daiyoukai nearby. Also, a horde of youkai.  
"Sesshoumaru???" the hanyou and Nao said at the same time. They turned around once more, and a minute later, Sesshoumaru came out of the grass plains with a young miko tagging along behind.  
"What are you doing here, Sesshoumaru?" Kagome inquired, gripping her bow tighter by instinct.  
He didn't reply. Behind him popped out Mika, who made a gasp and pointed at Inuyasha. "Ah, it's you guys! Hi Inu-something, Kagome, Sango, and..." She scratched her head, peering at Miroku who flashed a smile at her. "I dunno, I have no idea what your name is."  
"It's Miroku, my lady," he replied.  
"Oh." She strolled from the daiyoukai and spotted Nao. Running over to her, she put her hands to her waist. Eying the canine, she said, "What are you doing here Nao-san?"  
"None of your business," she growled and stared at Sesshoumaru.  
Just at that time, the flocks of youkai swam across their heads. At first, they were intent on heading toward east, but when the scent of humans ran through their barely visible nostrils, they turned around and flew down to the earth. Unsheathing their swords, Tokijin and Tessaiga, the two half-brothers prepared to battle the small fries. Kagome and Mika loaded their arrows onto their bows, ready to aim. Sango and Miroku armed themselves with their weapons. And the weaker ones, sadly Shippo, Rin, and Jaken hid behind Ah-Un and Hime who still had the cart attached with strings to her behind.  
Nao simply stood there out of the action, watching them fight. Somehow, as the battle went on, the groups clearing out the youkai easily, her attention diverted to Sesshoumaru.  
The description of him was more than what the kitsune Sune had told her. He was strong, graceful--all the words you would describe a lord. And with just one arm... admiration fired in her eyes. _He's cooler than I thought_, she thought.  
When the youkai decided they were wasting lives, they spun in the air and left the place.  
_--your husband._ Nao blinked. Why was her Grandma's voice coming through her mind now?  
"Stop touching people will you Houshi-sama?" snapped Sango as she struck him across the face as usual. Mika checked her bow with Kagome for malfunctions. Inuyasha picked on Shippo, while Rin chattered endlessly with childish topics at Jaken, who sadly had to put up with her.  
And Sesshoumaru was just standing there. Letting Nao take in his awesomeness--no I'm just joking. But she was certainly awed. She could feel her heart beating fast. Now she knew what she had for him now. Love.  
"My prince...my prince!" She leaped from her spot and jumped onto Sesshoumaru, who was in a super, extremely, about-to-kill-everyone-in-sight, mad mood.  
"I love you, nao!" She pecked the top of his head and hugged him tightly. "I love you my prince!!!"  
Even though Sesshoumaru resented her, he made no move to get rid of her.  
Mika happened to look at him, and the sparks flew by her eyes.  
"NAO!!! HOW COULD YOU, YOU!!!" She jumped up, the steam spewing out of her ears. She marched to a nearby tree, and with superhuman strength (something that no human ever has) she crunched the tree in half, and held the tree over her head.  
"I WILL KILL YOU!!!" she cried and threw it at Nao, who was on Sesshoumaru's back, who unfortunately got hit as well. And unluckily, Nao hopped away at the right time, leaving Sesshoumaru the only victim. When he lifted the tree away, he began to give Mika the "stare", when she came over with exploding wrath.  
"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO AND DO THAT YOU!!!" She turned around, gritting her teeth then faced him again. She stomped her foot and held out her hand. Striking him on the face, with everyone shocked, especially Jaken and himself of course, Mika stuck her tongue at him and sauntered to Nao. "And you, you aren't innocent either!!!"  
"Hee hee. Are you jealous miko? Are you?"  
"Why you!!!"  
"Sesshoumaru belongs with me, not you, hee hee!!!"  
"He belongs to no one and I am most certainly not jealous! It's not just appropriate!!!"  
"Oh, inappropriate," she mocked and dashed pass Mika and landed next to Sesshoumaru again. She gave him a kiss on the cheek--with Inuyasha slapping his hands over Shippo's eyes, and Jaken following only with Rin-- and returned her eyes to Mika, who was angrier than ever.  
Then, as if all of the anger was pumped out with a pump, a calm face returned to Mika. "Whatever. Go have fun with your dog girlfriend, Sesshoumaru!!!" She marched pass Sesshoumaru, who had a real surprised face. Then he came back to reality and punched Nao away, who didn't even notice the pain.  
Kagome giggled. "I see it. Do you see it Inuyasha?"  
"What? See what?" he asked without a clue.


	21. Episode 21

Episode 28: All Smiles

"Mika, don't be mad--" Yukuro started, but was cut off by Mika's on going tantrum.  
"No I am not mad! I'm just in a mood okay???"  
Yukuro rolled her eyes. _She is such a stubborn girl!!!_ "Mika, just admit it--you're jealous that Nao kissed him on the cheek!"  
"No I'm not!!!" Mika's face was red, and she was on the verge of tears. "I hate him, I just hate him!"  
"You could always leave," suggested Yukuro. Then she realized she had said the wrong thing. But it was too late; Mika heard it clearly.  
"Fine. I'll leave. I don't care if he makes out with her or anything!"  
Rin came by and asked, "What's making out?"  
Jaken followed suit and dragged her away from the scene.  
"Mika, you know you care. You're like in mad love with him."  
"Yah right. Do I seem like I'm in a mad love?" Yukuro glanced at her, in her brown eyes. They were seemed red in the sunlight from nonexistent flames.  
"No," Yukuro mumbled.  
"Well, I never had any feelings for him. I hate all dogs, I hate the domestic ones, and the wild dogs! Where do I begin? They stink, they are nosy, dumb, mean, filled with dirt and fleas; and the worst part, they are not good friends!" Mika took a big breath and turned to the others, bowing quickly as if they were lords and ladies. "Sorry to bother all of you with my selfish, self-centered, attitude!" she muttered crossly and snatched her bow with the quiver, and walked away. Trotting beside Hime, she disappeared into the distance without a single look of regret.

"Ah, I'm glad that foolish human is gone! She was a pain in the neck!" Jaken complained.  
"Don't say that Jaken-sama!" Rin retorted, coming to the absent Mika's defense.  
"I wonder what Sesshoumaru feels," Yukuro spoke out loud, as if she was paralyzed.  
"Probably relieved that annoying miko is gone," Jaken replied smugly.  
"No one asked you."  
"Where's the miko?" Sesshoumaru's voice called out. The three looked up and there stood the daiyoukai, with a calm face pasted on his face.  
"She's gone milord," the toad said, expecting him to be happy.  
"Where," he murmured.  
"Uh..." Jaken stood quiet, without muttering another word. He blinked and saw the daiyoukai walking away. "Where are you going Sesshoumaru-sama???"  
"Nowhere," came his usual reply. Only this time, it didn't seem so typical. Maybe it was because he was walking in Mika's direction.

The fuming miko was now at the edge of the path, where a small village lay ahead. Planning to subside into human civilization for a while to get the "dog" scent off of her, she entered the village with warm welcomes from the townsfolk. They were poor peasant farmers, with just a little more than enough food to spare, such as rice, goat, fish, chicken, and vegetables. The village chief beckoned Mika into his tent, and they chattered happily, mostly about the rumors circling the Feudal Era.  
And the funny thing was, her mind never thought about Sesshoumaru again. At least, not until she exited the hut to enjoy the night scenery alone.  
_I'm so glad I got Sesshoumaru off my mind..._  
_Wait a minute, I just thought about him! I can't! I got to snap out of this!!! I got to think about something else!_  
"Miko-sama," the chief's voice boomed. Mika jumped up and twisted her head around. "What is the matter?"  
"Well, our village women found something very strange. There's an animal nearby the forest. It's very large; at least big as one of the grown men!"  
"Is it a youkai?" she questioned, seizing her weapon and sprinting after the running chief, who was leading her the way. He shook his head as he ran, the beads of sweat dropping onto the earth like rain.

Soon, they spotted the enormous animal laying on the floor.  
When they got closer, Mika could see the details of its appearance.  
It was a dog.  
It had white fur. One right arm, the left one missing. Long ears. A long white tail. A blue moon in the middle of its forehead. And very menacing eyes.  
_Sahi--_ Mika blinked. The memory was coming back. She rubbed her left temple. A headache was coming in...  
_Sahi, I'm so sorry--I couldn't save you..._  
Mika continued to feel pain in her head. Was it something in her diet (which was fish, fish, fish, and mysterious mushrooms) that was causing these nightmares?  
Nevertheless, she returned her attention to the unconscious dog. It was lying on one side of its body, its paws sprawled out as if Buddha had struck it with a club. It seemed so sad, so beaten up, and so very out of place. And surrounding this injured dog, was an aura of familiarness. Even though it didn't resemble the towering tall man from her image in her mind, the dog still reminded Mika of Sesshoumaru.  
Suddenly, one of the dog's hind legs twitched. He wrinkled his nose as if he smelled something horrible. His pair of eyes flashed open, and he jerked his body up in an alert position, on all four feet. He glanced at the villagers armed with hoes and rakes, his eyes examining the humans in front of him with eyes of pride. Then his eyes ran toward to the chief and to Mika. At Mika's turn, he stopped looking and his head seemed to droop back to the floor again. What was wrong with this dog?  
"Miko-sama, do you know this animal?"  
Mika shook her head. "I don't know...Why don't you bring him into the village? I'll look after him," she suggested, still rubbing her left, aching temple. The village chief nodded nervously and ordered the village men to lure the dog into a hut. But the dog wouldn't budge, refused to oblige to the scared village men, and threatened them with his long fangs. Its drool dripped from his mouth and melted the grass below his feet. _Acid saliva? What has happened to "man's best friend"?_ Mika thought. She shooed away the men gently and neared toward the hostile dog.  
It was injured, just as she thought. On the side where he was just lying on was a pool of blood staining his white fur.  
"Good boy, don't bite--" Mika said, but the dog snapped at her fingers, as if they were sausages.  
"Um, miko-sama I don't think that's a wise decision," advised the village chief, wiping his damp forehead with a cloth, watching Mika pull the dog with force by his long ears.  
"Don't worry chief," Mika said, her voice strained and tiny, "I've dealt with puppies before. And this one's pretty small--"  
"SMALL? Miko-sama, that dog is the size of a house!"  
"It's nothing, it's just a little puppy--ow ow OW OW!!! MY HAND! AHH!!! IT'S BLEEDING!" cried Mika, as she struggled to pull out her hand without it being torn off by the sharp fangs that was pinning her hand on both sides. Blood poured out from the new wounds on her fingers, the dog tasting the claret fluid in its mouth. It didn't like the taste of course, and removed his teeth from her hands, and sneezed. It wrinkled its nose again and its tongue hung out of his mouth. It raised a paw to swat at its nose, which was twitching rather fast.  
"My hand!" yelled Mika, who held up her palm to her face, examining her five bloody fingers carefully. 4 holes were dug on the sides, and it stung when she waved it up and down, the air hitting it like a fan.  
"Miko-sama, let's get that bandaged!!!" The chief barked, and dragged her away to the doctor.  
The dog however, kept sneezing and chasing its tail foolishly. Finally, when it grew tired, the canine settled down and fell asleep. Taking extreme caution, the villagers crept near the injured beast and carried it away for Mika to examine it.

The young priestess woke up with no sun in her face. It was now pitch black, the moon high in the starry sky accompanied by its dancing stars. She crept out of the humid hut and wandered into the hut that housed the wounded canine. Pushing the straw flaps away in her path, the dog lay in front of her, sleeping peacefully, his stomach barely moving. The only sound made in the human-empty hut was the sound of his breathing, which was sometimes heard with a whistle from his nose.  
As the dog lay there, Mika stared at his soft, glossy, conditioned-look fur. It seemed so fluffy, so shiny, she wanted to reach out and stroke it. But considering the attitude the dog had given her earlier, she knew it wasn't a good idea to approach it right now.  
Ah, but the temptation was greater than she expected it. Soon before she knew it herself, she was kneeling down in front of him, her hand already half reached out to his fur.  
As all good sensible people know, dogs have an excellent sense of hearing and especially smell. And when her palm was just inches away from the dog, an eye flicked open, and at once, the dog got up, almost knocking her over if she didn't jump out of the way fast enough.  
The beast snarled, and then whimpered a little, from the pain on its stomach. The way the dog acted so aggressively, Mika decided it was a he.  
"Uh...you have to let me touch you or the wound will get worse--" she began, but was cut off from a mean growl from the dog. He definitely did not want to be touched; not even on the paw or head. Mika decided she needed to be firm with him.  
"Look, stop being so stubborn." She neared closer again, wondering why she was talking out loud. It wasn't as if the dog understood human language. But like a miracle, the dog narrowed his eyes and laid back, his muscles tense, but a bit assured that she was not going to harm him or anything.  
Taking a risk of trust on him, she leaned forward, washed the injury with lukewarm water, and rubbed some moist herbs on the wound. She could feel his flesh under the fur, and it disgusted her in a way, but she held her breath and made sure it was covered completely with the herbs. After the treatment, she bandaged it up, her hands shaking a little for no reason.  
"There. That didn't hurt did it, inu-chan?" she exclaimed, forcing her smiling muscles to move. But instead of an unworried grin, her face turned out to be still and sad. Then she clasped her hand over her mouth. If the dog really did understood language...maybe the nickname "inu-chan" would be a bit insulting to him.  
"Grr," the hound gnarled, its teeth clamped shut and mouth open.  
"Ah--sorry, sorry!" Mika apologized sincerely, as if he were a lord. She patted his head, to comfort him, but that caused him to chomp at her "shaker".  
"Bad doggie!"


	22. Episode 22

Episode 29: Haunted

Her heart throbbed in her head again.  
Those haunting dreams were always scary, and full of meanings that she could not comprehend.  
Yet, her heart longed to seek out the truth of these dreams.  
And so her mind agreed. Casting spells of her "past" these nightmares haunted Mika, night to day, morning to evening. Even the soothing smell of lavender could not wash them away in the pitch blackness of her mind.  
But the one dream she despised the most was the one of the lullaby. The one where she would stand alone, suffering from the bloody fountain on her neck, dying, withering away at the remaining life the "other" her had...  
And as the other her laid on the floor, nearly dead, a sad sorrowful lullaby would play. It was not of the one her mentor Omae had sung, though. It was so sad, yet so beautiful and haunting.  
Tonight, the it was that dream's turn to play again.

In the dream, she was walking along an abandoned forest path, searching for _him_ in the endless rows of trees. There was no moon or star to guide her, only the lit fireflies were the only source of light. And often in the dream, the other "her" would scrape her knee and fall to the floor, desperately clinging to the boy she was chasing after.  
When the silent count of her plummeting to the floor hit ten, an angelic voice would sing a touching lullaby, lulling her eyes to close. As she got up, a white, smooth hand would reach out, urging her to take it, and let the person lead her away. But when Mika took the hand, the person would disappear; leaving the boy she was looking for standing alone ahead of her.  
He had black, silky hair, tannish skin, and paranoid-filled eyes. He would turn around, his face hidden by shadows, and tell her things he had discovered before he turned mad.  
He would say, his mouth opening in the darkness, barely visible, "Hello, Mika."  
And her childish, ghostlike voice would pipe up and speak, "Why, oh why have you left?"  
And then the lullaby would come in, singing in a wraith like manner.  
_You lie... silent there before me...your tears...they mean nothing to me..._  
The boy would break into a quiet mad cackle, his eyes glinting in blue. His head would face the floor and he'd say, "Mika, did you know each of us has an oni inside of us?"  
The other her would shake her head, spreading her arms in confusion, hitting invisible shapes. "Wh-what are you talking about? You're scaring me! Please come back!"  
_The wind...howling at the window...the love you never gave...I give to you..._  
"Even you," he would whisper, "have a dark side. A dark, very dark side. I'm not the only going mad, Mika," he would say.  
Mika would shake her head in disagreement, take a step forward and scream out reasons. But the boy would continue his report of discovery, as if there was an audience, and he was a scholar.  
"That time when you hurt her...that was your oni, Mika. Deep inside you, you're not sorry."  
"No," she would cry, on the verge of tears.  
_Really don't deserve it...but now there's nothing you can do...so sleep in your only memory...of me, my dearest mother..._  
"Mika, remember the time when Omae told us about your neck? That if you cut deep enough, there'll be a fountain of blood spewing out? Don't you want to try that out?"  
Mika's eyes would widen, her arms stretched out in dismay, about to turn and run away.  
"Mika...don't you love me?"  
"I...no...I..."  
"Mika," he would mouth, and step forward closer to her. Mika would yell a silent scream, and turn on her heel to run away, his footsteps pounding softly against the earth.  
"No, no, stay away!!!" she'd shout, holding out her arms for protection.  
_Here's a lullaby to close your eyes...goodbye...it was always you that I despised...goodbye....I don't feel enough for you to cry...oh well..._  
"Don't be scared of me," the boy say with tenderly, with no emotion in his tone. He'd wrap his arms around her, locking her away from the forests that was so near, yet so far away.  
"Please, tell me what are you going to do? If you leave...Nagato-chan and the others...and Yamato-san! Don't you care about your brother--"  
"I'm mad, Mika remember? I lost all of my sanity, when I killed them..."  
"Kill--what do you mean--"  
"Shh..."  
They would stand there, his arms locked around her, the other "her" sobbing, knowing so well that there was no hope for him, no hope. He was mad, he was crazy, he had no mind...  
_Here's a lullaby to close your eyes..._  
"Goodbye."  
And then, the pain came. The boy would bring up his left hand, gradually up to her neck, a miniature knife grasped in his fingers, slit her neck ever so gently, just barely touching the blood vessel...  
"Ah, my neck, it--"  
"Does it hurt? It hurts does it? Does it?"  
_So insignificant...sleeping dormant inside of me...are you hiding away...lost..._  
"How could you...please...don't..."  
The reply would be amounts of insane laughter, him watching her fall to her knees, clasping her neck, trying to stop the flow of blood.  
"No...but I love you..."  
"Too late now," he'd grunt, and walk away, leaving her there to die.  
"No...why...why did you betray me??? You said I would be your friend...your friend...your friend forever!!! Was that a lie??? WAS THAT A LIE??? ANSWER ME!!!"  
But he would be camouflaged by the shadows, the fireflies dying with each step he took.  
"Curse you, curse you, curse you!!!" she'd scream, clawing at the ground, helplessly. "I hate you, I hate you I hate you I hate you! I'd find you, I'd find you and kill you! Just the way you killed me! I'll haunt you and your grave, making you suffer!"  
The other Mika's eyes would turn red from brown, the rain falling down now, falling down as if to sympathize with the dying young miko.  
_Gone mad...gone mad..._  
In the dream, she would laugh madly, this time with no one to save her, no daiyoukai with compassion to save her from her madness. She needed love, but who give it to her?  
No one would. In the dream, she was all alone, in th dark, hidden behind the rows of trees, hidden in shadows cast by the dropping fireflies, hidden by the pool of blood she would drown in...

"NO!!!" Mika screamed, her shout echoing through the entire village. Her head was sweaty, her eyes filled with fear and images of the nightmares. Her hand were clutching the sheets tightly, her stomach grumbling from hunger, her feet curled up. She brought her hands up, shaking, shaking so hard that she fell over, paralyzed by the haunting dream. She broke into sobs, crying while blind and deaf and forgetful of her roommate in the hut.  
"Arf," barked the dog, getting up from his cozy spot. He sat down and stared at the miko, yawning in question. His eyes asked, _What is the matter with you??? Screaming in the night..._  
"Oh," Mika finally said, gasping for air. She jerked up and threw her arms over the neck of the dog. "Oh, I had the most horrible dream...I...I...oh, I don't want to remember, it's too haunting..."  
The canine gave a startled whimper and then regained a calm dog expression.  
"I hate those dreams...they are so horrifying...I..."  
The dog barked and nudged his nose on her shoulder to warn her to back off. But Mika was so upset, she just blurted out everything.  
She told him about the dark forests lit by fireflies as she looked for this person. She described the fear and agony as the boy struck the imaginary wound across her neck. She told him of the haunting lullaby and the scary words that she yelled in the end of the nightmare.  
Listening without a sound, the dog decided to let her hold onto him as long as she wanted.  
_You silly miko,_ the dog told her with his eyes. _They are just dreams,_ he assured.


	23. Episode 23

Episode 30: I Have A Confession, Inugami

The following morning, the village chief found his guest sprawled over the floor of the hut over the white dog. Her mouth was open, her legs and arms stretched across the blankets; this image caused the village folk questioning her relationship with the white canine. He sighed and crept silently over to the sleeping priestess.  
Normally, if someone had woken someone up from their slumber, most people would yawn, stretch a few limbs, and crawl out of their futon or bed for breakfast. But some, some humans get very cranky, crabby, and grumpy when you rouse them from their "beauty sleep".  
And in Mika's case, she was one of those people.  
The village chief knelt down beside her, and shook her shoulder gently. She made no movement. Only the breathing was alive.  
"Miko-sama," he whispered, shaking her just a bit harder, "it's time to get up."  
Mika scrunched her eyes, still shut, and slapped him on the cheek as she turned to the other side. Still attempting to wake her up, he rubbed his cheek and dumped a bucket over her head. The dog flicked his eyes open, and growled. The fur on his back stood up, and he glanced menacingly at the miko and the chief. But the village chief didn't notice the beast eying him.  
As if she were a child throwing a tantrum, Mika woke up, her eyes slightly open, and threw a fist in the chief's face. She sprang onto her feet, growled like a beast and examined the wet locks in front of her face. The chief yelled before falling onto the floor.  
The villagers, aware of the noise the chief gave, dropped their rakes and tools, and rushed to the hut immediately. By the time ten people gathered at the hut, Mika had knocked out eight of them.  
"Wh-what are you doing???" a villager nervously asked, his arm shaking with fear. Mika simply looked at them with dangerous eyes.  
"You ask me what I'm doing?" she asked sluggishly, her mouth widening into a grin. "I'M MAD THAT'S WHAT!!!"  
"Why?" another one asked.  
"I just woke up..." she murmured, and then plummeted to the floor, snoring away.

"Gomenasai!!!" apologized Mika, bowing at least 15 times to each person before leaving the hut.  
"You're lucky that the chief is such a nice person. If he was dead, _you'd be_ dead too," they threatened.  
Mika giggled nervously, and added, "That's not a nice thing to think about..."  
The village men shook their head, not laughing at her joke. Mika frowned and knelt down.  
"Seriously, how can they get by the day without a joke???" She turned to look at the canine coming out of the hut. He was still sneezing.  
But the thing that amazed Mika was that he could walk without a problem. He had only one leg in the front, after all. When the dog saw her eyes, he turned and looked at her too.  
She blushed for no reason. Why was she blushing at a dog???  
"Come on, inu-chan--" and began to bite her tongue at her mistake. The dog growled and attacked her for the insult.

The two walked out of the village, beside each other, toward the rising early sun. At noon, Mika halted the journey for a little break. She sat down on the grass ground, taking in the fresh breezes.  
Lonesome, she began talking to the bored canine, who had his head on his paw.  
"You know, I don't remember anything of my past. It's like it gone blank. I don't remember who was my mother, my father, if I had brothers or sisters, or even where I lived. I just remember one person; my sensei, who taught me how to be a priestess," she babbled, ripping the grass from the earth, and twirling them into little bows.  
The dog yawned, with no interest in her story.  
Mika felt hurt. "Pay attention to me," she growled and felt silly. Nevertheless, she continued to talk.  
During the course of the several hours that they lay there, Mika talked about certain journeys she had taken in her life, like the one where she had killed a large youkai 50 meters high. She told him things she'd seen in castles, brave men she'd met, and, of course, the people she had traveled with recently. But she stopped chattering when she reached the point about Sesshoumaru and the others.  
She bit her lip and stood up. "We're wasting time. Let's go."  
The dog got up as well, and cocked his head to one side.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!!! Sesshoumaru-sama!" called out Jaken, who just woke up from an unwanted slumber. Behind him, Rin rubbed her eyes, sitting up.  
"What happened," she asked, crawling next to him.  
The toad shook his head. "I have no idea. I just know Sesshoumaru-sama isn't here anymore. So is Ah-Un. He couldn't have abandoned us right???"  
"No, I don't think so," she replied.  
"I hope not," he said.  
They stood up, searching the mist for their missing leader.  
"Nope, he's not here. Rin, let's get out of this mist first--" Jaken suggested, but before he could utter the last words, someone picked him up by the sleeve of his clothing.  
"P-Put Jaken-sama down!" Rin bravely barked, her trembling small hands tightening into fists.  
But the person only cackled evilly in reply.

Trekking on the path that was created by many merchants, Mika and the dog continued to head farther and farther away from the village. Mika was calm and composed, yet the dog was anxiously twisting his head in both directions, as if there was a powerful hunter stalking him. The priestess next to him didn't notice a thing though.  
When it turned to dusk, the dog held his nose in the air and turned his head behind. He barked at Mika, surprising her with his sudden cry.  
"What--"  
The dog snarled and gestured with his head to follow him. Mika got up and followed after the dog.  
But the canine ran fast. He was like a wasp darting toward its pray. Mika had to sprint at her best to not get left behind. But she couldn't keep it up; after a few minutes, Mika collapsed to the floor.  
"W-wait where are you going," she inquired, knowing well he couldn't respond. The beast didn't turn back to look at her, but he did halt. Finally, he gave a small check at the fallen miko. The sparkles in his eyes seemed to be dancing--it seemed as if he was teasing her, saying "you are so slow".  
Perhaps the dog was really saying that. Either way, that irritated Mika. She breathed heavily and pounded the ground with her fist. With exploding fury, she leaped back up on her two feet, and pointed at the man-sized dog.  
"Go a little slower will you??? I'm a girl!!!"  
_So what,_ his eyes seemed to say. He sneezed again.  
Something about his attitude toward her must have ticked her off, for she picked up a rock with her bare hands, with superhuman strength and threw it at him.  
The canine dodged it, sneezed again, and then dashed toward her.  
In seconds, she was seizing the fur on his back, clinging for dear life. He was flying--literally soaring in the sky.  
"HOW IN THE WORLD CAN DOGS FLY???" she screeched, her hair flying in her face. Her hands felt cold and coarse as the high breezes danced across her body. Even the heat that radiated off of the dog onto her became cold after a few seconds.  
"PLEASE CAN WE GO BACK TO THE FLOOR???" she cried out, straining her voice as the winds kept slapping her jaw. The white beast ignored her and continued running on the invisible air.

Eventually, the canine found what he was looking for and plunged back onto the earth, where they truly belonged. Then the muscles in his legs began working, his heart pumping blood faster and faster and then--he made a vast jump over a rock. When his three paws touched the terrain, he darted across the forests so fast Mika could barely see the leaves of the evergreen trees. After a while, they entered a huge white mist.  
It was spread around so thickly, Mika could barely see herself. It was as thick as the mist at Yukuro's castle.  
"Ow, ow, ow, my hands hurt!" whined Mika, who was slipping off his furry back, and examining her hands. Though all she could see was the fog in front of her.  
The hound nudged her with his nose and walked ahead, with the priestess grudgingly following him.

"Why are we here? What are you doing? Where-- what?" she growled when the dog turned around to glance at her.  
Once again, Mika blushed and avoided his looks. What was wrong with her, blushing in front of a dog. But there was something in his eyes that vaguely reminded her of Sesshoumaru.  
Then the hound stopped in his tracks. Mika held her head up, and after straining her eyes, she spotted a little girl clad in a orange kimono, being dragged by something. Mika waved some of the fog away and saw the something. Next to her was a green youkai, huffing and puffing from exhaustion. The green toad halted and took a breather. "Where are you, Sesshoumaru-sama," he wheezed, and was about plummet but the dog dashed over and caught them with his back.  
The young miko sighed and jogged over to find her old "companions".  
"Rin, Jaken!!! How did you guys get here???"

"Their foreheads are so warm," commented Mika, who had laid cold, damp cloths over their heads. The dog blinked and stared at Mika.  
"By the way, how did you know they were here?" Mika asked, forgetting that the dog couldn't talk.  
The dog shook its head in reply. He sneezed again.  
"Are you sick or something? Let me take a look at you," Mika said, crawling over to the dog. She put her hands on his stomach and stroked the fur. "It's so soft..."  
"Grr," the canine snarled and snapped at her with his fangs.  
"Ah, sorry..." She twisted her head to the grasses just a few inches away from the forest. "Want to sit there?"  
The dog hesitated before following the miko alone. He gave a look at the two sleeping pigs and leaped after her.

She stretched her legs on the grass, her ankles cracking with pleasure. Mika let her hands touch the sky, then dropped them to the soil. She threw a hand over to the dog beside her, startling the poor hound.  
"I can't shake my thoughts off of him," she whispered, and gave a little chuckle. Her eyes seemed to carry sorrow, immense sadness.  
Gazing thoughtfully at her, the dog's twinkled with curiosity.  
_What's wrong,_ he seemed to ask.  
Mika gave him a painful smile, then broke into tears, throwing herself into his fur. Sobbing muffled cries, she hugged him tightly, clutching his neck.  
"I miss him...I've never felt that way about someone before...I don't know what to do," she muttered. She wiped her tears away with her white sleeve and sniffed.  
"All right, I admit it," Mika bawled, "I was jealous, I was jealous of Nao. I--I--"  
She hiccuped and eyed the dog to make sure he was listening.  
"I just love him...I just do...I thought he looked cool, with his sword, he makes me think that I could become strong...no one ever looked at me..." Her voice trailed off. She took a glimpse at the sky. It was night now, just like the time when it rained and she held Sesshoumaru...  
Then she let go of the dog and fell backwards. "What am I doing, telling all my problems to you. You can't even understand me," she blubbered, and hiccuped again.  
The dog gave a hurt look and turned away.  
_I'll save you just this time alright, miko?_  
_Take my hand, I'll show you something--_  
_I thought you looked so cool--_  
Mika reverted her attention to the dog and pulled on his ears to get his eyes back on her again. "What should I do? Should I go back?"  
_I don't care,_ the dog said, in his eyes.  
"I should, huh. After all..." She leaned on the dog. "He reminds me of Sahi and everyone...oh Kami-sama, I love Sesshoumaru so much..."  
The dog gave a sharp look at Mika, as if Sesshoumaru was there.


	24. Episode 24

Episode 31: Spare Some Happy Moments Will Ya?

"What are you doing here???" cried Jaken, who had recently woke up. The cloth fell off of his forehead when he jumped up.  
"Is it bad that I'm here? I rescued you, you know!" Mika snapped, and threw a pebble at him.  
The canine with three legs snarled.  
"Kind of," she added nervously, just for her sake of safety. You never know what man-sized dogs do when they are mad.  
"Where did you get this dog? It's so cute," commented Rin, who knelt beside the enormous dog and patted his head. The hound growled and barked. She retracted her hand.  
"I didn't get it, some villagers found him and I took him in. He seems to have a keen sense of smell, so isn't that good?" Mika explained.  
Jaken sniffed the dog and came over. "He smells like you got him from the dumps."  
"He's not a regular dog. He's bigger than a full grown man," Mika said, watching the toad flinch back when the dog tried to take a chomp at him. "H-he doesn't like being touched does he?" Jaken questioned anxiously, sweat falling down his forehead.  
"No. He's not house trained. I think he's youkai." Mika gave a look around. "So where's the lord?"  
"Uh..." Jaken became quiet and walked in circles. He tapped the floor. He stared at the morning sky. "Um..."  
"Did he go away with his girlfriend to get engaged?"  
"NO!" Jaken retorted and scratched his head. "Actually...he kind of disappeared..."  
Mika rolled her eyes. "So he did get married. Where did he go for the honeymoon?"  
"That's not what Jaken-sama means," Rin interrupted, pulling on Mika's red hakama.  
(a type of Japanese pants)  
"So what does he mean?" she exclaimed, putting her hands on her waist. The three-  
legged dog yawned and sniffed his fur.  
_It smells like human..._ he thought bitterly.  
"You don't get it do you? Sesshoumaru-sama just disappeared! He kind of...disappeared into thin air. When we came to, he was gone!"  
Mika gritted her teeth. "Tell me the entire story first will you?"  
The four gathered around a flame, imprisoned by rocks. Coughing and clearing his throat, Jaken sighed and began telling her the recent events that happened during  
the short time she had been absent from.  
"Well, all of us were just traveling into another forest when that snake and wild dog suddenly yelled something. We turned around and found them collapsed on the floor.  
"Then, when we returned our eyes back to the front, a huge mist swept upon us..."  
"Okay...Then?"  
"Now, I still remember the horrific hit on my neck as I fell gracefully to the floor--"  
"IF YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO???"  
"Ah..." Jaken hanged his head, knowing full well he was about to be punched again.  
But Mika didn't punch him. Instead she said, "You are too ridiculous to punch."  
"Please punch me."  
"No," she replied.  
"Fine, I'll punch myself," Jaken snapped and whacked himself with his Staff of Heads.  
Plunging onto the floor, the remaining three woke up.  
"How dumb and irritating," Mika groaned, and shook her head. Rin saw her shaking her head and followed as well. Nodding in shame, the two strolled away from the males. The dog leaped onto Jaken, his weight squishing his lungs.  
"AHH! YOU STINKING DOG GET OFF ME!!!" cried Jaken painfully, flinging his arms that way, and this way.  
The canine replied by chomping on his head viciously.

As Mika and Rin walked through the forests, Mika made a mental note that she saw several plants that could be used as spices. When she saw the right ones, she decided she could use them to make dinner. A certain spark went off on her brain, and she knew immediately what to make. She gently ordered Rin to help her pick the spices, and soon they came back to the campsite, with armfuls of plants.  
Mika fanned the fire some more oxygen, called Hime over, and took out a pot. fetched some water and poured it slowly into the metal pot. She set it on the fire with sticks on each side to support it. As she waited for the water to heat up, the man sized canine took a sniff at the fragrances coming out of the pot.  
"It's called curry, I think," Mika said, as the others stared at it curiously.  
"You think," Jaken moaned, and frowned at the red stuff bubbling up the pot.  
"It just popped up in my head, like some forgotten memory--"  
"What if it's poison?" Rin asked cautiously, edging away as she spoke. Mika shook her head.  
"I wouldn't feed you poison; I just know it's "spicy"."  
The dog shook its head nervously, as if his tongue was on fire.

"Alright, it's done," announced Mika, pouring the red stuff onto wooden bowls she brought out of her cart. She even produced some rice out too.  
"If you had such things, why didn't you tell us sooner?" Jaken barked, as he spotted the rice.  
"Eat less, save more" was all she said. Mika turned to the dog and set it in front of its nose.  
"Here you go, inu-chan. It's good!" she assured him and poured the flaming stuff in her mouth. She screamed and quickly splashed water into her mouth. Hanging her tongue out of her mouth, she grinned at the others. Rin and Jaken hesitated to touch the curry. Seeing that everyone refused to eat her prepared meal, Mika scowled at the dog and scooted closer to the canine.  
"Open wide, inu-chan~" she cried, but the dog snapped at her with his teeth. She slapped his nose. The dog shut its mouth and held its breath. Mika growled and pried his mouth open and dumped the curry into its large mouth. Soon, his tongue was on fire, the dog whimpering and barking in pain.  
"Good doggie!" she said, and clapped her hands in delight.

Mika made a little bed for herself at the edge of the tree beside the dog. She laid her head on the irritated dog and scratched the back of his ears. He sniffed and jerked away. She giggled and seized his ears again. The dog stayed still.  
"Do you think...he'll let me come back? After what I said?" she whispered, and sat up. She held her knees and sighed. "I feel bad about what I did," she admitted.  
The dog gave a snort.  
Suddenly, his ears jerked up. He leaped up and smelled the air.  
Mika sensed it too. The ominous aura that wrapped around her ankles and wrists. She clutched her knees tighter and stood up, her quiver and bow in her hand. She gave a glance at her sleeping comrades and nodded to the dog. They ran into the dark forests to investigate, alone expect themselves.  
When the two stepped forward, they knew at once they had entered a separate dimension. The trees were purple instead of black, and the floor was not soft earth. All around them was shadow. As they walked along side each other, Mika longed to stop in her steps and ran back. But the determination to found out the sound kept her moving.  
Suddenly a crackling sound was heard. Mika looked at her feet; apparently, she had not stepped on anything. She turned to the dog. He had crunched some dead twigs and leaves; and a trap.  
The ditch was several miles wide, so it was impossible to know how big it was. But it was certainly big enough to swallow them into its dark, saliva-less mouth. First, Mika hit a hanging branch and then proceeded falling down. Next, the dog barked and spun its body around to prevent from falling on its back. Finally, then they reached the bottom, where bundles and piles of poison ivy thorns waited to thrust through their bodies.  
When the miko and canine plummeted hard, the thorns scratched their flesh. Blood dripped through the openings between the thorns. But Mika had landed on top of the thorns. The dog however, broke through the thorns and disappeared in the piles. When Mika came to, she could barely move. She reached out an arm, gently feeling for the canine. But as she felt, all she could feel was blood gushing out and the pokes of the thorns. Desperately, she called out, "Where are you dog? Answer me!"  
She pushed herself off the thorns, the thorns piercing the palms of her hands deeply.  
"Please, inu-chan, answer me! If I lose you too, I'll—"she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks.


	25. Episode 25

Episode 32: The Witch's Curse

His fur was now stained with blood.  
From the thorns, of course.  
Mika and the poor dog that had suffered her horrible cooking had fallen into a ditch where a many thorns had grown through out the years. They were enormous, and very, very sharp. They were like green knives!  
The thorns barely had touched Mika, luckily, but at that time she cared nothing about herself. She had dug her nails and fingers into the prickling thorns and tried desperately to get the dog out. Tears fell through the openings. Blood dripped from one end to the other.  
"This is painful so answer me!!!"  
Finally, the dog whimpered a little cry. It was barely audible though.  
She gripped on the thorns tighter, even though her eyesight was going blurry from the loss of blood.  
"Don't worry Dog, I'll get you out!!!"  
"What a foolish attempt," another voice from above said. It sounded like a female. Mika stopped sobbing and tried to see what lay beyond the light above her. It was a feeble attempt.  
"W-who are you?" she cried, shaking with fear. Suddenly, her legs ached with pain too.  
"If you so wish to be with him, I shall grant that," the person said. With a flick of her wrist, the light and air closed. The floor below her suddenly widened and swallowed her. She screamed and tried to stay above. But all she could do was cry out and hang on before she fell to her death.  
Below her, the dog barked and snarled and gnashed at the thorns all over his body. But, that was hopeless too.

Soon, Mika found herself in an array of thorns and vines. They poked through her flesh, and blood poured out like a fountain. She had never felt such pain before in her life. She tried standing up and fell back down. When she knew it was hopeless to climb out, she searched the dark area for the dog. She found the white blood-stained dog at the edge of the dark enclosure.

She crawled over to his side and put his head onto her lap, stroking his fur softly with her hand. As she nodded in exhaustion, she began to sing a lullaby that came somewhere in her deep, deep conscious.  
"Where the river plants grow, that is where, you'll, find me... If you don't, know where, I came from, that is where you'll find...me...yes....Where the cat sings its lullaby, that is where I'll be today... where the village lies, that is where, you'll find, me too... if you live today, you'll live tomorrow. If you see the future that is...if you can love me, you can love the world too, so sleep now...if you love me come find me, cause I'll be waiting over there...if you love the world, then you won't need me anymore..."  
The dog did not open its shut eyes. It lay there, breathing and dying slowly. But when he heard the lullaby, his sorrowful face seemed to be smiling, in relief. Mika laid her head onto the dog and hugged it tightly. "I'll get you out of here, I promise. I'll get us out of here, and we can all find him, together..."  
The canine opened one tired eye to glance at the being huddled over him and shut its eyes again. It seemed to say, _There's no need._

When the young priestess flicked open her eyes once more, she found a glob of saliva poured all over her hand. It burned the flesh a bit, and soon she found out it was acid! "You are one strange dog; I've never heard of a dog who has acid saliva!" She flung her hand in the air like how a chicken would dance, the spit flying all over the thorns.  
Then the answer came to her. Acid. Acid could free them from the thorns. She staggered her way to where the acid landed and watched it melt the thorns. Gradually, the thorn turned to nothing.  
"Kami-sama! I've solved it! Dog," she cried, running back to him. She pried open his tired mouth and dumped the saliva onto her hands. She threw it over his body, sizzling the thorns like barbecue. The tired beast yelped in agony and snarled weakly at the priestess, who ignored him, sadly.  
"I need more! Give me your mouth," she demanded and pushed his face to the thorns, and slapped his neck. "DROOL!!!"  
The tortured dog was forced to spit and spit till his mouth was dry. Finally, the thorns gave way, and Mika could remove the dog from the poking plants. She wrapped her arms under his belly and carried him like how she would carry a baby and began treading outside. "Boy, you're heavy as rocks," she commented as she struggled to hold him.  
_I never said you could carry me,_ the dog mentally thought, but he was too weak to bite in protest.  
"Oh, so you got out," said the same voice above.  
"What do you want," Mika cried as she looked up in the darkness.  
"Your soul, that's all," the voice said and like a knife had slit through the blackness, the light broke through, blinding Mika's face. She was about to block the incoming soul takers when the dog wriggled his way out of her arms and kicked her back. The soul takers hit the dog, the light enveloping his very body.  
"Inu-chan!!!" she cried out, holding out a hand that never reached him.  
The voice cackled above and petted one of the remaining soul takers. "How sad to see the such a noble to save a mere human girl. Do you not think it is foolish," she asked Mika. The priestess paid no heed to the female voice and was about to jump recklessly into the light when large amounts of youki shot out. It was like a storm of black mist, and it surrounded Mika like a snake trying to capture its pray.  
The voice seemed to gasp and the shadow disappeared, cursing, "How did he break the curse..."

"I told Sesshoumaru-sama it was a bad idea to let that girl into our group, but no, did he listen to his faithful servant?" questioned Jaken as he trudged through the thick mud that covered the acres of forest land. Behind him, Rin followed diligently. Jaken clamped his beak-like mouth and spun around darkly. "Rin, I told you not to follow! Go back to Ah-Un!!!"  
"I have to rescue Mika-san too!" she protested and pulled his staff away from him. "I can fight too!"  
"Give me back my staff you silly girl!!!"  
Rin leaped away from Jaken and began running past him. "You can't stop me Jaken-sama!"  
"Rin! RIN! GET BACK HERE! Sesshoumaru-sama's going to slit my throat and eat me for dinner if you don't--"  
At this moment, a tall lady with white hair and ghastly old, wrinkly skin brushed past his shoulder. She was leaning on a long wooden stick that looked rotten, and when he blinked, in the place of the old woman was a young teenage girl with beautiful set of eyes.  
She glared at him with an evil smile and knelt down next to him. "Why hello there little imp. Would you like to work for me?"  
"D-don't be ridiculous! I'm already a servant of someone! AND besides, what makes you think I'll stoop low enough to serve a inferior human like you--"  
A twisted dark youki surrounded the "innocent" lady. Her eyes shone with menace and when she frowned, she seized him by his arm and flung him to the floor. "Well, what makes you think I'm a human? Are there holes where your eyes should be?"  
Jaken blinked and gulped as he took another look at her. He gasped and threw his head onto the floor. "A witch..."  
"That's right, I'm a witch. Therefore, if you cross me, I might put a spell on you. Now go make me some tea, little demon."  
"I'm called Jaken," he cried in fear, and ran off to fetch Rin and Ah-Un. But before he left, she said, "If you try to run away, I'll be sure to curse _all_ of you."


	26. Episode 26

Episode 33: The Truth

She blinked. And blinked again.

But all she saw was the darkness. The youki was so thick, if one vacuumed it all, it would've been still impossible to see.

_But I've still got to try,_ she thought as she struggled to swat the air ahead of her away. But the dark purple mist kept on persisting on getting in the miko's way. Not only did it blind her, it also gave off a horrible stench; a stench that reminded her of throw up and urine.

_Nick!_ Mika gasped and rubbed her arm. A small, tiny bump was felt under her phalanges. Something had bitten her and left a mark of its invisible crime. She was just about to scratch her wrist when she felt another sting on her face. She slapped a free hand onto her face when a horde of stings came onto her legs.

"Ahh!" she cried as she tried to run away from these objects of pain. But they kept stinging and hurting and pinching at her skin. Even in the thick mist, Mika could tell her arm was getting red.

Suddenly, a rage of panic rushed into Mika. She spun her head around the curls and twists of youki. There was not even a flash of white or red. The dog was gone.

"Inu...chan?"

It was silent as a hill that housed a cemetery. Not even a whimper replied.

_Buzz...buzz...buzz..._ the flying stings buzzed. Mika slapped one successfully and felt the juices of this thing squeeze out. She held up her hand close to her face and almost barfed at the sight of a mosquito like creature, also known as the Saimyosho. Another one dug its stinger into her arm, leaving little particles of poison in her blood vessel, then signaled to the others to fly away. And they did, leaving a weakening Mika onto the floor.

"W-what... douko (poison)?" She clutched her arm where the poison was placed then removed it to examine it. Her blood had a darker tone to it now. The poison was spreading rapidly.

Wincing in agony, she began to tread out of the darkness and began to climb toward the light. She threw her hands at the walls, the rocks poking at her flesh. Then she kicked her feet deep into the wall and climbed up a step. And another. And another.

But the longer she climbed, and the longer the sweat beads rolled down her cheek, the more the poison seemed to hurt. Her heart ached with fear, and her mind was blank as a paper. And the exit still seemed to be miles and miles away, growing farther, and farther as she went up...

"Grr..."

Mika stopped climbing up when she heard the growl. Squinting against the bright light, she found a shadow looking down at her. A bark sounded in her ears.

"Arf," the dog barked and watched her climb higher and higher. It beckoned her with its strong and unwavering voice, as if it were selling candy to children. When she was at the top, he took her hand into his mouth and flung her over to the floor effortlessly.

With a bump, Mika was back on the surface of the Earth. She panted, and took in as much air as she could before getting up on her feet.

"Thank goodness you're still alive," she exclaimed as she threw her arms over his neck.

This time, the dog did not resist her embrace.

The woman with a youthful appearance grimaced at Jaken when he brought her a leaf with water in it. He had thrown a few grasses in it to make it seem like tea, except it was brown, instead of the usual green hue of tea. With rage, she knocked it out of his hand and demanded to know what he thought of her.

"Do you think I am a fool??? This is dirt, dirt, and dirt!!!"

"Well... there's not tea leaves or such here," he replied nimbly, wondering when Sesshoumaru was coming.

The woman showed her pointy teeth and struck him across the face and combed her hair angrily with her free hand. "Then _get_ some. IMMEDIATELY," she ordered, raising her hand again to threaten him. But Jaken didn't even jump in fright. Instead, he gave her his bravest and most intimidating look and said, "Just because I am a smite weaker than you, you have no right to bully me like that! Because I am--"

"Silence you fool!!!" the woman cried back and listened to the silence.

Jaken went mute as well,; the only noise were their breathing. Then, very faintly, Jaken could hear a little pit pat, pit pat, pit pat footsteps on the floor. They were getting closer and louder, so near he could almost see and hear who the footsteps belonged too. But then again, he was staring right at them.

The feet were two sandals and four dirty white paws.

He gave Mika and the dog wide-eyed looks and pointed to the woman, trying to beg for help. But Mika paid no heed to the toad.

"Ne, can't you smell out the others with your nose?" asked Mika as they passed by Jaken and the woman. The dog shook his head, feeling the slight aura of youki from Jaken. He stopped and was about to turn to examine the scent of youki when a lash of pain whipped his back. He was thrown off of the floor and onto his head. Blood started to pour out of this poor canine, as Mika gasped in shock.

The witch, the same one who had aimed the soul takers at them was standing in front of them, unharmed, and unsurprised. At this moment of unrest for the two, she seemed like a towering god, with them the feeble subjects of this "god".

"Y-you're that woman--"

"That's right, I'm _that _woman. But I go by a name," she said scornfully, "and that name happens to be Matsuki-sama. And you call me that."

Mika pursed her lips as she looked for signs of uneasiness on the witch. But there were none. Now she felt some uneasiness herself. "Very well, Matsuki-sama, what business do you have here?"

The witch laughed and said, "I want the Shikon no Tama, obviously."

"But I don't have it."

"You don't but you can make it."

"And how can I do that??? I'm no god."

"With your soul. Midoriko did the same. All I need, is your soul, and only yours. Now hand it to me without hesitation, and I'll let go of your friends." The witch opened a hole of the barrier that enabled Jaken to be unseen. Rin was being held captive by three of the soul takers, and poor, poor Jaken was beaten almost to death by the woman. At this ghastly sight, Mika almost cried on the spot.

"Well miko, what is your answer?"

Mika bit her lip and clutched her fist tighter. She wanted nothing more than to save her comrades. And, to see Sesshoumaru again. Still, she said unwillingly:

"All right. Go ahead and take my soul!"


	27. Episode 27

Episode 34: Mika's Oni

"Oh, what a good girl you are. Not even trembling at the feet of Death?" said Matsuki, as she spun the soul takers around her. Mika bit her lip as hard as she could until blood flowed down her chin, trying to stay firm and strong. The soul takers brushed their soft and scaly tails across her cheek, dancing for a few minutes before consuming her life.

The dog barked and barked, but he didn't move. Either it was the loss of blood, or he knew he wouldn't be able to stop the miko. Still, his barks did nothing to change Mika's mind. She was set on to sacrifice her life for everybody.

Finally, the soul takers stopped circling Mika and began to scratch at her recklessly. They didn't scratch at her skin; they scratched at the inside, pulling bits of her souls away. She bit harder on her lip, but kept her feet on the ground. She didn't wobble, or even cry out in agony.

_I can do this... I can do this... I can--_

The witch laughed in amusement as she watched her sustain her position. "I wonder if you can withstand this," she said, throwing a few more soul takers at her. This time, they were pulling her hair, pulling at her nails, and scratching her skin for real. And yet, Mika did not scream.

"It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt one bit," she said, refusing to amuse the witch. Her lips became stained with her blood, and her face pale from the loss of her souls.

The dog certainly didn't agree with her decision and finally decided to take action. He pounced onto Mika's attackers, swatting and biting at them viciously, then proceeded to go after the witch. But Matsuki had a lot more coming. More than a lot.

"Oh, still alive? I thought you'd be dead. Might as well see you suffer too," said the witch as she tightened the curse around the dog. Yes, a curse, that prevented him from seeing, hearing, or knowing anything. In minutes, he was nothing more than a puppy. He fell to his knees, knocking against each other, then passed out.

"Aha ha ha ha ha!!! Look at yourselves, so ridiculously foolish! Only fools go against Matsuki-sama! HA HA HA HA!!!" she cackled and returned her attention to Mika, who eventually fell down too. Her eyes were crimson with agony, and her body was splashed with blood.

But something about Mika was different. Something on her face didn't belong to Mika. That something was the grin that was gradually spreading on her face. A grin... of refusal to die. In short seconds, Mika stood back up again, laughing a maniac laugh of her own.

"I'll never die," she exclaimed, clawing at the blood on her arm. She opened the wound and threw droplets of blood at the witch. Even the evil witch was surprised at her behavior. Never in her witch life had she seen someone do such thing.

"Shocked? You should be. This blood," Mika continued, "will become yours soon!!!" At the end of her sentence, she stopped laughing and threw a hand at her that never reached. But another did. A transparent hand, longer than a tree extended to the witch, clutching her neck. It squeezed and halted the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen till her face turned blue.

Sadistically, Mika laughed harder and harder at the torture of the witch. The dog woke up once more as the grip on the curse loosened and watched wide-eyed at the witch. The witch tried to remove the invisible hand and tried to direct the soul takers toward Mika, but the crazed miko resisted all her futile attempts.

"What's wrong, witch? Aren't you going to take my soul? HUH???" The grin disappeared from her face as the witch's heartbeat went slower. "Aren't you going to watch me kneel before Death? Or are you kneeling yourself???"

"I--I'll release them-- I'll leave-- just--" the witch tried to say, but the grip only tightened more. "Please let me go-- I'll--"

"Too late for that now," Mika snapped and gripped so hard, the muscles on the witch's neck tore. Soon, the invisible hand of the miko tore the head off the body, the rest falling limp to the floor. The youkai witch was finally dead.

Mika's lips closed from her laughter that followed after the witch's death as she trudged toward the dog. A sense of fear began to take over the dog's, but his usual composure kept him from whimpering and kicking at her. She took his head into her arms and kissed him on the nose, then collapsed to the floor.

At once, the dog began to grow bigger, and bigger until he was the size of a human again. The fur on his back began to shrink until it showed the white fabric of the kimono, and his tail disappeared onto his shoulder, and soon enough the white hair flowed down to his waist again. Instead on all fours, the dog was now back on his two feet, as Sesshoumaru.

When Jaken rose from the ground and found himself looking horrifically at the beheaded witch, he was relieved to find Sesshoumaru in one piece. He ran over and began to greet him when he saw Sesshoumaru looking a bit less calmer than he usually did.

The only one smiling at there then, was Mika.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Mmm... where I am I," Mika mumbled when she came to. She looked up to find Sesshoumaru staring at her, and jumped out in surprise. She threw a trembling finger at him as a memory of him "kissing" his nose came into view.

"Y-y-y-y-y-you were t-th-the dog???"

"What dog," he asked, rising to his feet. He turned his back on her and began to leave. "I have no idea of what you mean."

"T-that dog that was--"

"Sesshoumaru-sama, you were that dog???" Jaken chimed, as he put the pieces of information in his head together. Sesshoumaru gave them a fake look of confusion and continued to walk away. He was more interested in the behavior of Mika's sadistic behavior.

But as he glanced back, he could see no trace of it. Just as if she had a split personality inside...

"Ne, ne, does anyone know what happened? I was kinda dead while all this action was going on."

Jaken shrugged his shoulders as they sat under the starry skies. Rin gave no reply, her face sullen and pale. Seeing the child so sad, Mika gave her the best smile she could do at this moment and asked, "What's the matter?"

Rin mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?"

Rin repeated the word again, still quiet. Mika took a seat beside her and asked her to say it again. This time, Rin screamed it into their ears with conviction.

"YOU MURDERER!!!"

Mika almost fell over at the sudden boom of her voice, mostly from shock at the word she had just said. Shaking, she asked, "What murderer?"

"You're like those robbers! You kill people and you like it!" Rin held her head in her knees and began blurting out everything. "You pulled that woman's head off. The blood was everywhere and you were laughing and you were enjoying it!!!"

"But I--" the miko began to protest, but realized that it would do no good. The girl was disappointed in her behavior and if she heard anymore from her, she would never forgive her. _Still, I would never do something like that..._

"Nao! Hmmph! I don't think she'd be able to do that, nao," a familiar voice piped up from the bushes. Nao and Yukuro jumped into the circle of three and glared at Mika.

At once Mika felt a surge of rage toward Nao. She reached for her bow so swiftly she didn't even know she was until Yukuro pointed it out.

"Mika, what's wrong?"

Mika blinked and found herself pulling the sharpest arrow out of the quiver. She threw them aside and shook her head. "N-nothing... nothing... I'm all right. I really am..."

"You look kind of paranoid," Yukuro said.

The miko bit her lip and gripped her hakama as she tried to contain to anger in. "I think I'll sit alone."

"Nao, are you scared of Nao?" Nao asked, combing her hair. Mika gritted her teeth and didn't reply. The wild dog youkai leaped up from her spot and grabbed her wrist and spat her sentence in her face. "I said," she repeated, "are you scared of me?"

S_Scared... you should be scared of me..._

At once, a different person took control of Mika's body. Her face drawn into a scowl, and her eyes a claret color. And she was even showing a variety of teeth at her, menacingly. Unaware, Nao continued to yell and shout at her. Finally, the silent and frowning Mika spoke up in a scratchy voice.

"You," she whispered, "should be scared of me."

Then her irises returned to its usual brown, her mouth closed, and her voice youthful once again. Rubbing her temples she walked away dreamily, as if she had just took a long nap and woke up. She didn't remember what she said, what she thought, or what even happened. It was all... a dream.

_And a game for me..._


	28. Episode 28

Episode 35: Escape From Jail

"Looks like bandits' work," Sango commented, when she looked around her surroundings.

They had arrived at another ruined village. The roofs had holes and had burn marks, as if something had blasted through them. The fields were empty of crops, and of course, no evidence of any people still stuck inside the village alive was there. Miroku nodded in agreement.

"It seems like it's been several days since they'd been attacked," he said, smelling the stuffy air that was still lingering with the scent of fresh blood.

Kagome examined a piece of rubble, then heard voices ahead in the distance. She looked up and found a few workmen cutting down trees and directed her friends toward them. "Hey, look! There's some people! Maybe they can tell us something!"

They ran toward the workmen, who had faces that meant they were concealing something dark and sad. Inuyasha, ready to force the answers out opened his mouth to yell when Kagome interrupted him and spoke instead.

"Um, excuse me? Can you tell us anything about this village?"

An old man, most likely the director of the workmen gave a depressing sigh. "Well, if you insist. This village was destroyed by these bandits. But they weren't regular bandits. The survivors say the village was destroyed by a strange bright something. We're cutting down these trees to make a fortress so we can protect our village. I hope we're not too late," he explained, nervously wiping a few sweat beads from his forehead. He hurried to his workers and ordered them to work faster.

_Something bright? Don't they mean a light?_

"Neh Inuyasha," Miroku said, "we need to find some lodging tonight."

"Why," the hanyou asked. "I'm ready as a wildcat to go after those bandits."

Shippo pounced up on Kagome and said, "Inuyasha, tonight's the new moon remember? It's the night where you turn into a wimpy human and _everyone's_ got to protect you."

Irritated, he seized the kitsune and pinched his cheeks with his sharp claws. "Who's wimpy here???"

~O~O~O~O~O~

Inuyasha yawned as he listened to the crickets singing. He was bored, and the fact that the bandits with strange bright lights was bothering him. Plus, now that he was a human, it was even more annoying. If only he wasn't a human... if he wasn't he would've gone off to search for them without his teammates. He gripped his fang sword Tessaiga and shut his eyes, trying to go to sleep. But a certain monk's tease woke him up.

"Too scared that someone's going to come after you?" Miroku asked, glancing over at the hanyou.

"No--" he began, but the monk shushed him. "Do you hear that?" he asked. Inuyasha closed his mouth and listened intently.

"It's the sound of the villagers!!!" Sango pointed out. Kagome and the taijiya jumped up from their futons and brushed away the flap hanging over the entrance of the hut. Residents of the village were running in panic, crying, moaning, and screaming something about bandits.

"EVERYONE! WAKE UP!" a few cried, "THE BANDITS ARE HERE!!!"

Inuyasha broke through the girls huddled over the entrance and was shocked at what he saw. Ugly bandits sitting on rugged horses with weapons that resembled Goryomaru's weapons too much. Weapons that cast out light, a mysterious light that was made up of youkai!!!

Miroku and Sango boarded upon Kirara and ordered Inuyasha to stay down. They flew to the scene, farther and farther from Inuyasha's protest and landed near a batch of bandits surrounded a group of poor villagers. A bandit held up the weapon and was about to aim it at the villagers when Sango threw her Hiraikotsu at him. It knocked him unconscious immediately. But just as it seemed that he was going to be out cold for a while he jumped back up on his horse, his grip tight on the Goryo-pot.

"That Goryo-pot; where did you take it from?" Miroku shouted.

The bandit simply laughed and spat out, "GO AWAY!!!" He aimed the weapon at Miroku and in seconds, the familiar light burst out from the hole. Miroku responded to this attack by ripping off the seal on his right and revealing the curse Naraku had gave him.

"KAZANA!!!" The surprised bandits desperately forced their horses hard onto the floor as the light was sucked into the Kazana.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"The village is sure quiet," Shippo commented, shivering from the cold.

"You're right," Kagome said, looking over at Inuyasha, who was thinking deeply about the bandits.

"Do you think Sango and Miroku finished those evil bandits off?" the kitsune asked.

"Probably--"

"Kagome, duck!!!"

Kagome gasped and turned to her back to find tentacles rushing in from the hut. A vague silhouette extended the tentacles from his arm until it reached Kagome. It caught a hold onto her leg, then twisted and curled around her stomach, neck and arms. Shippo jumped off just in time, while Inuyasha took out his sword, which was nothing but a useless katana now. He thrust the edge onto the tentacle, but it was no effect to the silhouette. Straining his eye, he realized who he was looking at.

But it was too late, because the hut was immediately broken down. Goryomaru, or which was now Moryomaru retracted his tentacle into the air, Kagome's legs dangling like noodles. She threw a cross look at him, who was staring calmly at the destroyed hut. He murmured something like "I got you". She bit her tongue when he saw his eyes and his face. _Goryomaru? But why?_

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Spit it out! Who gave you those pots? WHO???" Miroku asked rashly, grabbing the collar of the bandit. He was paralyzed in fear, and especially because of Miroku's Kazana. He could say nothing but, "What was that, what was that huge wind..."

"Answer the question!"

"A woman! S-She told us to attack the village!"

"Was she carrying a fan?" Sango asked, her mind already imagining a suspect.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The stone wall was smooth and soft, with no scratch or mark, except the characters chiseled onto it. It was as if the ocean ran across the water until it was perfectly even. But more puzzling than that, was the puzzle the characters said.

Four came from one  
The one made four  
The Four became whole  
And it was done  
The one is gone  
The four exists  
Enveloped by purple mists  
It will be gone  
When it is gone  
And when it is done  
The one will rise  
And make another one  
So then  
Will it finally end  
The curse of the first one

"Um, Kikyo-sama?"

Kikyo stopped reading the prophecy and turned around to glance at the anxious looking chief. "What's the matter?"

"The cave is the matter! It really doesn't seem safe here..."

"Oh Chief, I'm sorry. You didn't have to come. I'll escort you back--"

Before she could mutter another word, the cave began to shake. Cracks started to cover the words, breaking the second verses below the characters she was reading. Terrible sounds such as moaning rang through the cave. The entrance to the cave was blocked, and the light disappeared. The chief gave a squeal of fear and slapped his hands over his ears, trying to block the horrible sound. The ground below Kikyo broke, and before it could swallow her up, she leaped to the chief's side, bow and quiver in hand, and took him deeper into the cave.

"W-Where are w-we g-going?" the chief asked, so scared the miko had to almost drag him to move.

"Somewhere safer than where we are standing right now!" she answered breathlessly.

They kept on running until they reached a dead end. But there was no wall ahead of them; it was an abyss. She spun around and found the cracks creeping toward them, just a few feet away. She returned to the hole ahead of them.

"Kikyo-sama, what are you doing? We should run!"

"But there's a hole in front of us--"

"There's no such thing!"

_Illusions??? _she thought and shut her eyes. The fear of an abyss laying ahead of them was hidden away as she took a risky step forward. The sound of a sandal meeting the floor was heard. She kept on walking, eyes closed, the sense of sight gone. When she knew they reached the other side, she reopened her eyes, only to be more shocked than ever.

"Chief, am I right in seeing what I am seeing?"

The chief gulped. "W-what are you seeing?"

"I'm seeing a large thing in front of me, with giant blue eggs surrounding it!!!"

"I-I'm afraid you're right in what you see," he stammered, the sweat raining onto the floor.

The youkai was as big as a mountain. It resembled a dragon housing eggs, but the eggs were as large as a human. And the teeth gave them the illusion of swords stabbing their eyes. The youkai's claws were long and sharp, scales shiny and vicious colored, and the eyes open, red as red could be.

"_Kisama_, who do you think you are, coming into MY cave at THIS time?" His ruby eyes landed onto Kikyo. Then he laughed.

"You're not of this world, are you," he commented, his legs stretching across the floor. "Are you the miko who died for the Shikon no Tama?"

Kikyo grimaced and clutched her bow. "What are you talking about?"

"You can't fool me. I know who you are. I fought you once, and that despicable hanyou. You guys sealed me in this cave, remember?"

"I have no recollection of such memory," she cried, and nocked an arrow onto her bow. She let go of the string, the arrow soaring in the air and struck his armored scales. Even though it hit right on the mark of his softest spot, the youkai merely grinned at her. He raised an arm and struck her to the wall.

"Made of clay huh? Just a shadow of your former self? You know you cannot be young if you were still alive. That's why you cannot fool me!!!" He grasped her neck and held her into the air, clutching tighter and tighter until she had to let go of her weapon. She made a feeble attempt to attack him with her spiritual powers but it still gave no affect of pain to the youkai.

"I don't see that hanyou with you. Did he abandon you for some other woman?"

"That's none of your business is it?"

"That shows that youkai and human cannot cope together. And yet, you held that belief? He betrayed you didn't he? And you sealed him to a tree?"

"Kikyo-sama!!!" the chief yelled helplessly below her. "Let go of her, you youkai!"

But the youkai's intention was set on killing Kikyo and Kikyo only. This time he would succeed. After all, there was no hanyou to rescue her, nobody to help her at all...

"Let go of Kagome!!!"

A kick and a hit and the arm let go of Kikyo. She fell onto her back, and saw a wolf youkai standing in front of her. He turned around and scratched his head.

"Oh never mind. You're not Kagome. You smell different too. Like dirt," Kouga said, taking a sniff at Kikyo.

"You know Kagome?"

"Ah," he replied, and blocked a blow from the youkai with a single hand. "Why do you look like her anyway? WHO ARE YOU???"

"Kagome's my reincarnation."

"Oh, no wonder you're dead." He eyed the youkai and punched a hard fist at his hand. It bruised the claws, but it didn't do much either. _I can't do much without my Shikon fragments..._

"Well, anyway, I'll help you just once because you look like Kagome okay?"

Kikyo got up to her feet and frowned. "It's the other way around."

"KOUGA!!! ARE YOU SURE IT'S KAGOME-NEE-CHAN THERE???"

Two more wolf youkais popped up behind them. It was Ginta and Hakkaku, who was as usual, slower than their leader and was desperately trying to catch up. They stopped when they reached the scene and panted for a while before falling over at the sight of the youkai.

"W-W-WHAT IS THAT???" they yelped.

"It's a youkai," Kouga explained.

"WE KNOW THAT!!!"

"Then don't ask," he snapped, and kicked the youkai again. It paralyzed him for a moment, giving Kikyo and the chief the time to run. But as she ushered the chief out of the battle scene she tried to move but was immobile.

"What are you doing? Run--" he ordered, but the youkai struck him back. He returned his gaze at Kikyo and threw an claw at her but Kouga blocked it just in time. He raced to Kikyo's side, picked her up and began fleeing. His followers did the same, only huffing and puffing to escape the enormous youkai that was to be trapped there forever.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Go-Goryomaru??? But he was killed by Hakudoshi--"

"No," the youkai holding Kagome in the air said. "I'm Moryomaru. Goryomaru _is_ dead." He raised another tentacle at Kagome and was about to bring it down when Inuyasha popped out of the broken hut. "LET GO OF KAGOME OR I'LL KILL YOU!!!" he exclaimed, taking out his blunt sword. Shippo jumped out too, telling him to not reveal himself to anyone but he was already slashing uselessly at the tentacle.  
Moryomaru let go, with the usual accompanying light.

When Kagome was about to be engulfed in the light, Sango jumped down from Kirara and blocked the attack with her Hiraikotsu. Miroku jumped down too, his hand over his right, ready to use the Kazana anytime. But before Moryomaru could use his light again, a woman holding a fan emerged from the shadows. It was Kagura!!!

_Kagura? What is she doing here?_ Kagome thought, reaching for her bow and arrows. "Are you both into this???"

Kagura frowned and looked away. She seemed reluctant. But something dragged her attention away from Kagura. She reached into her pocket and felt the bottle. There was no feeling of the Shikon light inside. The source of Shikon no Kakera was Moryomaru instead. He had stolen it from her when he caught her.

"What's wrong, Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked, turning his head away from battle for a few seconds.

"He took the Shikon no Kakera away from me!"

_This girl... she can see the Shikon no Tama???_ he thought.

He released the light again at Kagome, to prevent her from seeing the stolen Shikon no Kakera, only to have the light sucked in by Miroku's Kazana. But before it was completely sucked in, he opened his grinning mouth and let out a swarm of Saimyoshou, the poison bugs. However, the incoming light shielded them from sight, and soon they entered Miroku's body, the poison slowly spreading in his body already. This forced him to close his hand, leaving his teammates vulnerable to Moryomaru's attacks.

Smirking wider than ever, he stretched his tentacle at Kagome. Inuyasha gritted his teeth and leaped in front of her to take the attack for her. And so he did, the wound on his back deeper than any one he had taken.

"Inuyasha...!"

_So the fool comes out anyway..._ Kagura said mentally, watching them dodge the attacks weakly.

Then out of nowhere, a flash of youki swam toward Moryomaru's shoulder. Again and again, until Moryomaru blocked the light with his own. Kagura unfolded her fan, straining her eyes to see beyond the light.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! The heart is definitely in him! Look! It has no youki!!! Look--"

"Be quiet, we know! Gosh, you're so annoying!"

"You be quiet, what right do you have to talk to me?"

"Why you little--"

"Kagura, who is he?" Moryomaru asked, turning to Kagura.

"That's Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha's older brother." She grimaced at the sight of the daiyoukai. Why was he here?

Seeing everyone was shocked, Moryomaru used this chance to catch Inuyasha in an attempt to absorb him. He caught him successfully, and began to suffocate him within his tentacles. As Inuyasha lost oxygen helplessly, he frowned at the crystal shard the little youkai Jaken was holding. He was frowning because he could not figure out how they had such vital object that gave them all they needed to know to find the heart. The heart of Naraku's, that is.

"Neh, Sesshoumaru," the girl beside her said, "what are you going to do?"

The daiyoukai furrowed his eyebrows and pointed his blade at the used-to-be soulless being before him. "Kill him, of course."


	29. Episode 29

Episode 36: When Everything Falls Into Place

"Whew! That thing was scary!" Kouga exclaimed as he set the surprised Kikyo onto the ground. She patted her hakama and sighed. "There goes another bow..."

"So, what's your name, Kagome's look alike--"

"It's the other way around."

"Just answer my question already."

"It's Kikyo." She looked around for the chief and found only footprints leading back to the village. At least there was evidence that he was safe and back at his home.

"If you know Kagome, you know Inuyasha right?"

Kikyo didn't answer that question and asked one of her own instead. "What is your connection to Inuyasha?"

"Well, it'd be a bit to nice to call that useless mutt my rival because he doesn't even match next to me, but it's something like that," he explained irritably, and in a rush.

"I'm just an old friend of his. That is all."

"Man, you really are different from Kagome. You're so unsociable and cold..."

"And you are exactly the same as Inuyasha, who rushes into things without thinking," she retorted, holding her head a bit higher as she left.

"HEY, JUST CAUSE YOU HAVE A PRETTY FACE DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH THAT!!!"

But, she was long gone, soaring away with her Shinidamachu into the sky.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Sesshoumaru, you jerk, what are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked breathlessly, the weight of each tentacle pounding on his cheek. His elder half brother didn't reply. He ignored him and went ahead toward Moryomaru, Tojikin in hand and slashed against his left shoulder. The youki hit him, but it didn't give a lasting pain on him. In fact, there seemed to be no pain at all.

"Kukuku, don't you know I can absorb youki? You're just strengthening me!"

At once, Moryomaru transformed into a huge youkai, arms and tentacles large and long like rivers. Inuyasha struggled to breathe, as he began to get sucked in deeper into Moryomaru's body. _That idiot,_ he thought bitterly as he watched Sesshoumaru slash at him without mercy. But obviously Moryomaru had no idea that his half-brother had no feelings of family love toward him.

"Don't you care about your brother?" he asked, as if he were begging for his life.

Sesshoumaru merely smirked at that question. "Hmmph. I could slice you both and care less."

Mika grimaced at the thought of being Sesshoumaru's sibling. "Poor little brother; Sesshoumaru wants to kill him along with the enemy..."

"He's colder than ice!" Yukuro agreed.

Sesshoumaru frowned once more and threw another slash into the air, the youki rushing toward Moryomaru again. "Just you try it," he taunted. Shippo clung to Kagome fearfully. "That dope Sesshoumaru, if he keeps firing them, he'll get stronger!!!" He covered his eyes in disappointment as he listened to Jaken's useless sayings.

"H-How dare you call Sesshoumaru-sama a dope! I'm sure he has a great reason to do this--"

"AND WHAT WOULD THAT REASON BE???"

"IF I KNEW THAT I'D BE CALM FROM THE START YOU BAKA KITSUNE!!!"

Miroku got up from his knees and turned to Kagome. "Actually, I think we should be focused on Inuyasha. It doesn't seem like he's in a happy situation."

Sango nodded. "But it's impossible to stop his deranged brother, isn't it?"

"I guess," Miroku sighed, wrapping the beads around his hand. "You're sure he has a plan?"

Jaken could only watch with trembling eyes as the slashes of Tokijin hit Moryomaru. Suddenly, Kagome clutched her fingers around her bow and raised her arrow. Aiming it at Moryomaru, she was about to shoot it, when two other arrows came in. The longer one tipped with the eagle feather devoured the smaller one, but both of them did enough damage to let Inuyasha breathe again. Kagome turned to side to side, finding only one of the archers; Mika. She gulped. The other archer could only be...

_Darn, it's that woman,_ Kagura thought bitterly, and felt the presence of Naraku's creation. A soft pat approached the scene as a long scythe dragged onto the floor. "Oh lookie here. It's that dead clay woman, Kikyo."

Kikyo's hair was loose and the soul snatchers were dancing around her. They left when she took a step forward, her hair tickling them. She nocked another arrow, her eyes full of coldness and merciless thoughts, aiming it at Moryomaru. At the same time, Sesshoumaru struck again, this time, the youki collected in his body reacting strangely. It made his skin bulge until it burst like a balloon.

Injured, he turned to Hakudoshi, who only glanced at him cruelly, with no affection or sorrow at all. Nevertheless, he and Kagura welcomed him in the mist, as they disappeared. Sesshoumaru tried to go after them, with the Tokijin by his side, but Hakudoshi's barrier was second to none in power. It reflected the attack back at everyone, letting them escape perfectly.

Miroku sighed as she struck his staff end on the floor. "That's that huh?" He turned to Inuyasha, who became youkai once more. "Do we go after him?"

Gripping tightly on a piece of pebble and taking a swift look at Kikyo, he reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, of course."

~O~O~O~O~O~

When they caught up to them, they found Hakudoshi and Moryomaru at the edge of the cliff. Beside them was Kanna, the white girl who had no scent and presence. They seemed to be talking about something as they landed on the floor. Up in the air, Kagura watched intently.

"Hakudoshi! What did you do," he growled, cracking the bones inside his hand. The white kid simply laughed. "What I did was kick your butts, that's all."

Suddenly, Kanna's mirror shone with a bright light. She murmured, "The girl is coming."

"What girl," Hakudoshi spat, aiming his scythe at the sky. The mirror showed a girl that vaguely resembled Mika.

Kanna said no more, as she took a step backward. Moryomaru did so too, and before they could shout out anything, they fell into the abyss below. And as they stood there and watched, Kagome felt the a Shikon no Kakera. "Hey, I feel a Shikon no Tama!"

Sango bit her lip. The only one who held a shard was her brother, Kohaku.

And sure enough, the boy dashed out of the forests, and into their group. With his chain weapon in hand he parted them away and jumped into the air, with Kagura catching him successfully. Then the turned and looked at Sango with eyes that tried to tell her something.

A secret, his eyes held, but before she could make out anything or say his name, they too, disappeared.

"Kohaku..."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Her heart was pounding. That feeling was disappearing. It was like another part of herself. Where was it?

Left? Right? Up? Or... She pushed the branches in her way and found herself at the edge of a cliff.


	30. Episode 30

Episode 37: Kikyo's Resolve

_'Inuyasha... do you care for that girl more than me?'_

Her face was twisted in worry. Her eyes shone with jealousy. But he knew what he had just shown her had hurt her. After he had tried so hard to tell her that he still loved her it was all broken now. Kikyo was...

'Wait, Kikyo!!!'

The Shinidamachu surrounded her and lifted her up into the air, the dark night wrapping its cold arms around her clay embodiment...

"Kikyo--"

He blinked and looked around. It was still nighttime. He looked over to Kagome. When she slept, she resembled Kikyo even more. Just like when he had met her the second time after she was resurrected. A calm face, small lips, a pale and creamy complexion, and beautiful black hair...

After he learned about Kikyo being dead for fifty years, Inuyasha thought he would be relieved. But his heart ached, and it hurt every time to look at Kagome. The same dreams about Kikyo kept coming. Every time he thought intently about something, her smiling features interrupted the chain. Then, when he began to warm up to Kagome, and Kikyo revived, he was confused. Was he happy to see Kikyo, or Kagome? Or was he feeling bitter hatred toward Kikyo, like she was?

When he had jumped out of the pit to Kagome's side, he realized he was happy to see Kikyo. He had never felt one shred of resentment for her at all. For when he looked into her eyes as he closed his fifty years ago, there was the truth. The entire truth embodied in her body, and now was in Kagome's.

_I can't stop thinking about her. I have to see her..._

But where was she?

He couldn't smell her nearby, even though he saw her a few hours ago.

And if he went, he would end up making Kagome upset too. He clutched Tessaiga. He didn't know what to do anymore. If only Naraku didn't exist!

"Inuyasha, did you have a bad dream?"

He glanced up. Miroku was always the first one to notice something.

"Yeah," he replied.

"It was about Kikyo-sama, wasn't it?"

He trembled. His tough look softened, and his eyes stared upon the ground. "Yeah," he repeated. "It's always about Kikyo."

"You still..." Miroku couldn't bring himself to say the feelings Inuyasha felt toward Kikyo in front of Kagome, even though she was in a deep slumber.

"Yes, and stop asking about it!" he snapped, turning his head the other way in anger. He bit his lip and winced at the sight of Kagome and the others. _They didn't wake up,_ he thought.

"You don't have to shout," Miroku pointed out. Inuyasha grunted softly. He didn't have to be told. Then suddenly, he said, "I won't tell anyone."

"What would be your excuse?"

"You used your idiotic Inuyasha sense to run off to the scent of Naraku."

"Kagome will know immediately."

"You just wanted some time alone then," he offered.

Inuyasha folded his arms. "Say whatever you want. Just don't let me down."

The monk grinned. "You can trust these manly matters to me."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Wearing only a light kimono, Kikyo stepped into the waterfall and sat down on her knees, as if she were bowing shamefully to a king. She folded her hands, and prayed. Among her prayers was Inuyasha.

The Shinidamachu circled the waterfall, making sure no mortal spotted her. After all, just after the battle between Hakudoshi and Moryomaru, a monk and his apprentice had saw her clearly as she rested beside a tree. Her barriers were weakening, and Naraku was gaining power.

What was she doing these days? Wasting away, eating on the souls of the wandering women who died nearby. A mere zombie, revived for no purpose?

_I have a purpose, but it is no longer the former. I cannot become a woman no longer, no longer for Inuyasha...[i] Her eyelids lowered. [i]If my purpose here is to banish Naraku so be it._

The water was cold, but because her skin was actually artificial clay, it felt nothing like water. It was just white and blue silk running down her shoulder now.

Suddenly, below her collarbone, a scar ached. She winced and opened her eyes to the attention of the wound. It had widened again. _So that's how much Naraku hates me..._

A rustle in the bushes. A bare feet, and silver hair. She looked up. "I-Inu-- what are you doing here? How did you--"

"Kikyo, are you..." Inuyasha felt as if he was an intruder in her private life. His eyes ran over to the sky above her chest. "Wasn't that the scar Kagome healed?"

She lowered the kimono a bit further to examine it. It ran over her right shoulder and was making the trek down her chest. "I thought so as well. But Naraku's hatred won over Kagome's kindness. That just shows you how much he detests me."

Inuyasha could never find out why Naraku hated Kikyo so much. Probably because she had gotten in his way, but she had rescued the base of his life. But it was only a half-sided love. The other half wished for her death. And he had succeeded twice. The last she was saved, but if it happened again...

Kikyo stepped out of the water, looking at Inuyasha with melancholy eyes. He felt insecure when she glared at him like that. When she was alive, she had gentleness spewing out from her. Now, she was just an empty shell whose reincarnation had robbed her life out of her. She looked so sorrowful.

"Enough of me. What about you?"

"Me? What do you mean?"

"You wouldn't seek me out on purpose other than to gain information, would you?"

_That's not true... I only came here because I wanted to see you..._

"You wanted to see me then?" Her eyebrows frowned. "You can look at Kagome then," she said coldly. Inuyasha's lip quivered. She was trying to make him leave. Did she not desire to see his face?

"It's not the same..." His voice was only a whisper.

"What?"

"Kagome isn't just you! You two are different people, but..." He looked down at his hands and realized he was mad. He released his fists and looked back up at her. "Do you hate me, Kikyo?"

Kikyo turned away, so she would not be able to look at him. He felt discouraged now. If she was thinking, that means... _I should just leave..._

Just then, a Shinidamachu brushed past his shoulder. It flew toward Kikyo, and embraced her with its tail. It dropped a round soul into her palms. She carried it like a baby, almost swaying to the passing wind, like how a mother would rock a child. _How peaceful she looks..._

Then she held it before her, and pushed it into her body. A surge of souls began to rush out. The few souls of Kagome were colliding in her body. A mass of wind swept out across the field, even causing the waterfall to stop for a moment. When the light was about to blind Inuyasha, he caught a glimpse of her falling to the floor.

He leaped and caught her just in time in his arms. She was breathing heavily. When she reopened her eyes, for just a second, the melancholy washed away.

"Inuyasha... you can let go of me now," she said. He did so. As she pulled away, he saw that the scar had disappeared.

"Your scar... it's gone..." But Kikyo didn't stop to answer, and only got up to walk in the opposite direction. At once, Inuyasha felt that she wasn't telling him something. "Kikyo! Wait!"

"I don't have time to wait," she replied, trying as fast as she could to pace. But Inuyasha was faster than the miko. He caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder.

"That soul... it was Midoriko's wasn't it?"

"H-How did you--"

"Kikyo, why aren't you telling me?"

"I told you everything--"

"You're going to go finish Naraku off by yourself aren't you?"

Kikyo pursed her lips, knowing it was impossible to reply. Inuyasha knew he got it right. He turned her so that she was facing him and gave her a hug.

"Why do you have to do everything by yourself? Didn't I tell you that you won't be by yourself anymore?"

"But you have Kagome," she countered, not raising her arms to hug him back.

"Don't bring Kagome into this! I swore to protect you didn't I?"

"That was back then. I'm only a clay doll, nothing more."

_I know that. I know you're only a clay illusion, but you--_

"I'm going to finish the Shikon no Tama. And when I have the jewel in my hands, I will use it to destroy him." She pushed away and stared at him. "You can't defeat Naraku with a sword, Inuyasha. You have to destroy his body _soul_. Can you do that with the katana?"

She raised a hand to her chest. "Midoriko wishes the same as well. We have alike souls, therefore, I can take her soul in this cheap body. I cannot waste this sacrifice by waiting here! My time is coming, Inuyasha. I was..." Her eyes glanced down at the dirt. "I don't belong here, anymore."

Inuyasha still tried to hug her. She made no move to go away. She only stood there, trying to warm up from the heat Inuyasha was giving her.

"That doesn't mean you have to throw away your life," he murmured, trying his best not to cry.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Ah! That was an awesome sleep! I can't believe we just had a hard battle yesterday!" Kagome announced as soon as she started stretching. Sango nodded in agreement.

"I guess. But I don't see Inuyasha--"

Miroku glared at both of them with his most serious face. "Inuyasha went after Kohaku," he said.

Kagome could only stare at him with disbelief. "But--"

"Kohaku???" Sango dropped Hiraikotsu and threw her arms onto Miroku's shoulders. "But why???"

Miroku began to think that his lie was too straightforward. "Uh-- you know how Inuyasha is--"

"Ahh, that was a great drink of water," Inuyasha said, wiping his mouth as he walked down toward them. "Why's everyone looking at me like that?"

Sango pushed the houshi away and threw herself at Inuyasha. He was so surprised, he almost thought that Sango was hitting on him. "We-weren't you looking for Kohaku?"

Inuyasha blinked five times with an open mouth before giving her a fake smile. "Y-yeah I was. But I was tricked and I got thirsty--"

"Osuwari."

Inuyasha plummeted to the floor. He glared at Miroku, then at Kagome. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR???"

Miroku cleared his throat. _I didn't tell anyone,_ he tried to tell Inuyasha with his eyes.

_Oh really?_ Inuyasha thought, as he confronted Kagome.

"I knew it was fishy. If Kohaku-kun was here, I would have felt his Shikon no Kakera!"

The monk felt sweat beads dripping from his chin. _Oops... I forgot about that..._ He turned to gaze at Inuyasha, who returned a look of fury back at him.

"And?"

"And that means, the only option you would leave us is to go talk to Kikyo didn't you???"

Inuyasha turned the other way, feeling guilt climbing his spine. He cleared his throat and said, "No, you've got it wrong. I just took a drink of water. I got thirsty after running after an illusion of Kohaku, remember?"

"You didn't say so earlier," Kagome countered.

"Uh, well, that was because you didn't ask."

"No, that's because you went and spent the entire night with Kikyo!!! OSUWARI!"

Moments later, Inuyasha was running alone with Shippo on his back, Miroku to his left, and Kilala, Sango and Kagome all the way to his right. Shippo pulled on the hanyou's delicate ears. "You made her mad, baka."

Inuyasha grimaced. "What's so wrong with talking to Kikyo anyway???"

Kagome glanced over to his side with an empty face. "Osuwari."


	31. Episode 31

Episode 38: Kagura's Sacrifice

In a field adorned in flowers and cherry blossom trees, Mika couldn't help feeling a tad bit lazy. She didn't want to move, neither did she want to fight. The air was strong, but it wasn't so strong that it knocked her off her feet. And when the wind passed through the hollow spots on the trees, a flute like noise was made, creating Nature's own orchestra.

Just a moment ago, she had felt a pulse, and her heart was beating so fast. She had found herself at a cliff, but she turned back and soon enough, she found herself here. Tired, and her legs heavy as if she were dragging steel, she lay on the green furs of the earth and slept.

The next morning, she was sitting up admiring the blue sky. She sighed. _If only you were here_, she thought. Then she shook her head. Could she not think of anyone else to spend a beautiful day with other than Sesshoumaru??? And he was such a jerk anyway... why did she fall for him???

"Calm down Mika... calm down. This place is all for yourself--"

"_Oi, temee,_ a voice called out. It was a female voice. An aura of youki surrounded the prescence. She turned her head around to glance at the speaker.

A woman dressed in a colorful three-layered kimono stood before her. Her waist long dark brown hair was tied in a bun, decorated with two white feathers. Her feet were bare, and her eyes shone red. She was a youkai, or specifically, Kagura.

An urge to attack her and run away ran through Mika. But as soon as her fingers touched the smooth finish of the bow, she bit her lip and stood up, facing against the equally tall lady. "What do you want?"

"You were traveling with Sesshoumaru, weren't you?"

"What's it to you?"

"Where is he?"

_Could youkai feel?_ was the question ringing in her mind. As soon as Mika witnessed Kagura's red lips mouth Sesshoumaru's name, she knew the woman had unintentionally harbored feelings toward him. She refused to admit it, but she knew she wasn't the only one who felt flushed toward Sesshoumaru. She glanced intently into the woman's face. At least she didn't blush and feel dizzy if she saw him.

Mika knelt down and held the bow to her knee. She turned away and paced away from Kagura. "I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. You're the enemy, aren't you?"

She felt hesitation from Kagura even as she neared the exit of the line of sight. She turned around, waiting for the question to slip out of her mouth.

Raising her fan to her mouth, as if covering the opening in which the words would come out from would do any good, she said, "Then do you know where that dead miko is?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

Telling so much information to such an unimportant character was risky. But then again, by now Naraku should have knowledge of her treachery. Her flying in and out was certainly suspicious and she released Moryomaru. On top of all that, she was worth nothing to Naraku. The only thing worthy that belonged to Naraku was his heart, which was supposedly supposed to be in that monster.

Kagura bit her lip. She doubted it.

Looking ahead, she saw her death. A horrible death planned by Naraku. All the ways she dreamed of dying had something to do with Naraku. If only she could get his heart before he could get hers...

Suddenly, a huge void of youki and a mass of heavy air stopped her flight. She almost crashed into this mysterious hole, if she didn't steer it to the right. But as soon as she did, a feeling of regret that she didn't get to see Sesshoumaru ran through her body like a spasm.

"Greetings, Kagura. Having fun pretending to be the wind?" Naraku asked, his sarcastic remarks making Kagura's heart pump with speed.

"I'm not pretending, because I soon _will_ be the wind."

"Very unlikely. That will always be a dream for you. Unless I grant it, which is what I am here to do for you. Would you like that? An time of freedom just for you? I could give it to you, as a gift. After all, what you've done for me is worth something." A sly grin stretched across his face.

_Something? I'm worth a stone to you, you piece of trash that not even a hobo wants._

But the red muscles and the bump met the exact pulses in her body at the exact time. No beat was missed. The familiar pear shape struck fear into her heart, or what should be there. Her heart was right now in his hand. Her life, in his power and will.

_Is he going to squeeze it? Torture me then watch me plummet to the ground?_

The heart was so smooth, so delicate in his dirty hand. It was sensitive too, and one wrong move or poke could make her slip from her feather and fall to her death. She could also choke, the blood in her system failing to circulate even without the heart then. She swallowed. _I have to calm down... he can't do anything..._

"Are you afraid, Kagura?" He raised the clump of muscles higher. "Are afraid, that I will squeeze your precious heart and let you die?" He grinned. "I am not that cruel. I will just give it to you. How would you like that?"

She was about to retort, when suddenly the heart vanished from his hand. The pulse radiating through her body was real, not artificial now. She held a hand to her chest. She had gained back her heart. But he wouldn't just give it to her... he was a rotten jerk, he would--

In one swift move, Naraku struck Kagura through her shoulder. All the blood splattered over her face, the feather, and the air, seeming to stain the white clouds. Blood came out of her mouth too, a spasm of her muscles in reaction to the attack. She lost her balance, and began to fall backwards. The pain was all over her body, a pain she never felt before when she was heartless. Was this the feeling of being whole once more with her heart?

At once, the shouki spread through her body. The wound turned purple from the toxic and stung the flesh beside the hole. She hurried to wipe it away, but she knew it was useless, and ended up with acid on her hand. She looked up at Naraku one last time before her feather gave up from her weight and acid, leaving gravity to its work.

_Am I going to die, like this?_

Alone?

Is this the freedom I wished?

Is this it?

'If you want freedom, get it yourself. I will not be used by a mere woman like you.'

She closed her eyes. His words was insulting, but his voice was music. She wanted to see him, and hear him speak. Just one last time...

~O~O~O~O~O~

She landed in a field of berries and swollen flowers, bursting with joy and pollen. The trees were silent, the world was empty. It was just her. And her freedom, the freedom she wanted.

_I can go anywhere I want._ That was what she told herself. But her wound prevented her from doing anything. She grunted. _But my stupid body won't listen to me!!!_

In frustration, she ripped the grass and flung it into the air. Warm tears of pain flowed down her cheek. Why this? What had she done to be thrown away like this? She was the wind; no one could control the wind. And yet, she was being forced to do what was against her will.

She reopened her eyes that was shut for some time. She then realized, the guilt of the ones she had killed for Naraku was catching up to her now, clawing at her sanity. The eyes of the wolf tribe she had massacred. The villages of humans she had destroyed. The little girls and little boys, smiling faces and all were wiped away, all by the wind.

_Well, as they say, 'atone for your sins'. If I die, everyone would be happy, wouldn't they?_

"You there."

Her ears immediately identified the voice. It wasn't Sesshoumaru's. It was a female voice, the voice that belonged to the dead miko woman she was looking for. Kikyo was clad in her usual outfit, her black hair loose. Her scent lurked of clay and dirt, but at the same time, a combination of purity of her own and some other individual. In her left hand was a red longbow. On her shoulder was a quiver holding three arrows. On each side, two girls that were her shikigami stood obediently, waiting for her orders, and guarding her at the same time.

"Heh, what do you know? It's Inuyasha's dead "woman". What are you here for?"

Her face was feminine, not even close to Sesshoumaru's, but the way she looked at her seemed like how he would look at her. It was a look of pity, a look that Kagura was sure he would also have.

"I felt your presence. It is familiar to Naraku's. But that's not what I was here for."

"What do you want then?"

"Information." She eyed her wound. "Before you die, it would be good for me to gain some."

She smiled ironically. "You don't suppose you know a way for me to revive, like you do you?" She reached for her shoulder, wincing when her fingers touched the mutated area. "Cold as usual. That's why I don't like you."

"I find myself as cold as Inuyasha's brother. So why don't you like me then? Is it that I am the same gender?"

"What does Sesshoumaru have to do with this???" she said in a burst of anger. Then she bit her lip and proceeded to talk in a whisper. Tears were rolling down faster as she did. "I overheard Naraku one day. He was saying something about completing the Shikon no Tama and you. He said that if you got a hold of the complete Shikon no Tama and purified it, he would die."

"That was what I was planning."

"Well forget it. Naraku won't die just of the Shikon no Tama. But he would, if you destroy his heart."

Kikyo narrowed her walnut colored eyes. "I do not have enough time to search the entire world for this one heart."

Kagura reached into the sleeve of her kimono and threw a crystal at her. It was sparkling with a dark hue. Kikyo picked it up. "This is?"

"It's something that could be used to find his heart. I also know what the heart is in. It's in Moryomaru's body, I think. Or it could be the baby's," she said in a rush. She looked up at the sky. "That's all I know."

"Thank you, Kagura. I hope you get what you wish, and farewell," Kikyo said, passing by her. As she did, Kagura felt ashamed. Letting a human woman that was dead for fifty years feeling sorry for the wind? How disgraceful.

Soon, an hour passed. Somehow, she began to desire for a presence, for a person to talk to. At that moment, even Kikyo would have satisfied her loneliness. She just didn't want to be alone. Then suddenly, she realized something.

_When Kikyo died... this must have been how she felt. Being thrown away, betrayed, and alone..._

Finally, her patience was awarded. An aura of youki greeted her. A smile worked her way across her face.

"Looking for Naraku huh? Sorry, I'm not him." She gripped her shoulder, not even caring if the wound stung. "You must be disappointed, Sesshoumaru."

It was a moment before he answered. It was in his usual murmur. "I knew it was you."

"Oh."

"You got your freedom."

"A crazy freedom it is. I'm dying when I'm supposed to be flying where I want to be. Having a heart isn't what it's all cracked up to be." She turned her head around and saw Sesshoumaru clutching his sword. She had heard about it from Naraku. It was a sword that could bring back lives. Was he planning to do that? She looked up, carefully avoiding his eyes so she would not bring more shame to herself. He was changing.

But soon, he let go and glanced at the floor. "Are you happy?"

She looked at her hand. It was fading. So were her feet, her clothes and face. She gave him a smirk. But her face had already disappeared before she could talk, and soon enough, Sesshoumaru was only staring at the scenery.

Somewhere distant in his mind, he heard a voice.

A female voice.

He could make out a few words.

What were they?

_I am... the wind... the freest wind of all... _


	32. Episode 32

Episode 39: Naraku's Counter Attack

_To live as a clay shell... to love as a clay embodiment..._

She grinned. _No wonder Kagome hates me. I am such a disgusting creature, feasting on the souls of women wandering across the land. I am no worse than Naraku... just a worthless zombie... but even zombies have purpose._

The morning sky was still. There were no clouds to cover up its magnificence, like how one douses herself with makeup to create fake beauty. Her smile was wiped off when she remembered the small clam Inuyasha had given her. It was so small, so delicate, so easily broken. She wished she could hold it in her hands again, and toy with the rouge.

_I wonder how Inuyasha would think if I wore some..._ She smirked at the thought. He would probably be too busy chasing after that pathetic excuse for a hanyou Naraku to even look at her.

She continued to walk down the path toward the revolting youki. It was getting nearer, and so was the pulse of the Shikon no Tama.

Could she do it? Kill off Naraku all by herself? It was an impossible task, but nothing in the world was impossible.

_Just like how I was revived into the world, torn away from the endless slumber and freedom in the other world... How I managed to gain back the love for him?_

She would not be saved again, she knew.

She most likely wouldn't even succeed.

But it was her destiny. To move on, and take out her revenge.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Awoken, and new. Reborn into a new world. It was a pleasure.

But in a darkness so dark, it was unpleasant and horrifying. A tentacle reached out. Whose was it? Oh yeah, his.

Mine.

The power was all mine. A sparkle of purple radiating, leading him through the abyss easily as how a modern child would lick ice cream. _Crunch... crunch._ The disgusting bugs were being stepped on. But it didn't matter.

There she was. Standing there so full of pride. It was so much fun seeing her face torn and twisted into agony. Her eyebrows arched in a V, her face drowning in misery. Her hair flying freely, her body plunging into her death.

Oh it was evil all right.

But the world wouldn't be fun if there wasn't some villain there, would it?

~O~O~O~O~O~

She spun around. He came so fast! But...

"Finally come out of hiding, Naraku?"

The man stepped out of the shadows. His feet were covered in dust, and the nights shadowed half of his face. But the tentacles, and his disgusting, monstrous body needed no sight to identify who was there. It could only be Naraku, and Naraku it was.

He wasn't smiling smugly as he always did. In fact, he looked grim. He must have been disappointed to find out that even his hatred could not surpass Kagome's kindness or Midoriko's will. Suddenly, Kikyo's body shone with a bright light. She felt the souls inside her rocking side to side. Midoriko was excited to see her child.

"That's my line, Kikyo," he said slowly and gruffly. The usual barrier was there. "So, how would you like to check out today?" He gestured to the cliff behind her. "By falling into a lush river with pointy rocks assuring to massage holes into your clay body?"

Her face was already drawn into a scowl as her arm extended backwards, pulling on the arrow with expertise. "We'll see who falls into that river."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"He's nearby!"

"Whom, Inuyasha?" Miroku cried as all of them jumped up with a start. Inuyasha rarely barked when it was silent and such.

The hanyou took in the scent deeply. "Do you even have to ask???"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"That disgusting hanyou..."

Jaken wiped the sweat from his brow, even thought there was none. "Do you mean Naraku, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

The daiyoukai stared at him for a few seconds before slamming his fist into his head. He stepped on him as he neared toward the scent of Naraku.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"KOUGA! I'M REALLY TIRED! CAN WE REST?"

The wolf prince turned his head and shook disappointingly. He was still running. "YOU BAKAS, NARAKU'S REALLY NEAR!" He turned back. "I can smell it so close, I feel like I can rip out his throat at this second!"

"But he won't be leaving anytime soon, right?!?"

"OH JUST STOP WHINING AND RUN FASTER!!!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

There he was, that ugly hanyou. He drew out Tessaiga and looked around the surroundings and was surprised to find Kikyo there. She was so ferocious with her attacks, her accuracy was failing. He gulped. It wasn't frequent to see her missing her arch enemy so often. But then again, Naraku was cheating; with his usual barrier. He turned to Kagome.

"You ready?"

She nodded, her bow in position. "What about you, Sango-chan, Miroku-sama?"

The two nodded too. Sango raised her boomerang and flung it toward Naraku, who seemed to be intently focused on killing Kikyo and stood there with no movement.

"HIRAIKOTSU!!!"

Naraku spun around just in time to reflect it back, but Inuyasha released his Kaze no Kizu before he could whip his tentacle. But it wasn't the wind scar-- it was Kongosouha, the clouds of diamonds racing toward him. It scratched his barrier away, leaving Kagome the opening to shoot her arrows.

She shot one; but it still missed.

Another one assisted hers; pure, bright, and stronger than ever, Kikyo's. Kagome tried again, and both of the arrows hit their mark.

But a hysterical laughter breached their false victory.

"Stupid. Just stupid fools you all are. You've fought me so many times, and yet you waste so much of your time trying to hurt me even though you know so well I can't be harmed." The face began to regenerate, and so were his limbs, arms and legs. His hair was pieced back together, his tentacles too, like a puzzle. Soon enough, he was the same as before, no harm, no scratch or cut done.

"We know that," snapped Sango. Miroku put his hand over his cursed right hand, ready to rip off the seal and unleash his Kazanna anytime. Inuyasha grimaced.

"Then why try?" Naraku asked, seemingly trying to stall time for something.

"You never know," Kagome said, releasing another arrow that whizzed by, "your plans might fail you!"

"Fail? You fail yourself, by running after me. What's so bad about me using the Shikon no Tama for my desires?"

"You're evil," Shippo said. "Villains aren't supposed to be given a second chance!"

"Not only that, but you've killed a lot of people and caused a lot of grief, with your false truths and twisted ways! And just what makes it worse, is that you don't feel sorry at all!!!" ranted Inuyasha, supporting his comrades. But Naraku, of course wasn't convinced. Instead, he insisted on mocking him.

"Well, it wasn't my fault you let your beloved Kikyo die." He smirked as an eye rolled over to Kikyo. "Three times in fact."

"Three?" Kagome pondered. He had almost killed her twice. What was he talking about? _Don't tell me..._

Suddenly, a Shinidamachu broke into Naraku's barrier. He tried to fend it off, and killed it successfully, but it was too late.

A white jewel lay in Kikyo's hand. There was a large scar across the smooth surface, but it was no doubt about it.

"So, you hid it in my body. How could I have missed this? Chasing after a phantom, when it was in the "soul" all this time..."

"Soul?" Kagome turned to Inuyasha. "What does she mean by soul???"

"Well, when I visited Kikyo, she used Midoriko's soul to cover up the scar that was widening again because of the malice Naraku holds against her. You know, the one you tried to heal?"

"But... it closed..."

_But I don't get it... if it was in her, why did she get it out now, but not then?_

"Well, then. I supposed you've realized your mistake?"

Kikyo closed her eyes. "I have. How foolish of me." She stood there emotionless.

Inuyasha felt his nerves inside running crazy. He was fearing something... something that was coming.

"Any last words?"

"None, against you."

"Then goodbye."

The Naraku that stood before them vanished.

"W-What???" Inuyasha cried, looking everywhere for their enemy. "Was that a fake???"

_A fake? No..._

That hanyou was real.  
  
She looked at the jewel. It was darkening.

_But I am not..._


	33. Episode 33

Episode 33: An Empty Heart

All of a sudden, Kikyo backed up. Her ankles were at the edge of the cliff. She let herself fall backwards, the jewel dropping to the floor. A mass of jyaki rose from her mouth, eyes, and ears. Midoriko's soul caused cracks to break through the realistic skin of hers. Soon, Kikyo turned to dust, as she fell into the abyss below. The souls of the mystic Midoriko flew out into the sky searching for another body, while the remaining soul missing from Kagome's body just floated, floating with no purpose to return to Kagome.

While Inuyasha was watching. Just watching.

_I knew he wouldn't save me... I knew he wouldn't try..._

Her bow lay on the cliff, like a souvenir of the past, of the present Kikyo, clay and deceased.

"Inuyasha...?" Kagome began, but couldn't ask why he didn't save her.

He fell to his knees. Tears were dripping to the floor like a waterfall. His hands clutched into a fist, and began to pound the floor in frustration.

"Kikyo... I couldn't help you... I just stood and watched you fall... I couldn't help you for the _third_ time... I didn't get to say... goodbye..."

"Inuyasha, get a hold of yourself," Shippo said, but Miroku picked him up by his tail and shook his head.

"We should leave him by himself, right now."

"But..." Kagome looked over to the hanyou weeping for the dead woman. "I'm going to stay with him."

~O~O~O~O~O~

By now, the tears inside him had dried out. He was crying, but no water was trickling down his cheeks. He touched his face. It was stained with hardened tears. He didn't care. He gripped the sand and flung it into the abyss. His emotions were in a mess. He didn't know whether to be angry at Naraku, or to mourn over Kikyo.

A tender hand touched his shoulder. Kagome sat down next to him, waiting for him to say something.

Finally, he said, "Did you ever get along with Kikyo?"

Kagome was stumped. _Of course I didn't._ "No, not really. I mean, at times we were forced to help each other, other than that, we were pretty cold against each other." _Especially me. I just__**took**__Inuyasha away from Kikyo._

"I missed her... from the very beginning. But I didn't have time to cry." He looked up into the sky. "I wonder how she feels, being killed for the third time," he asked to no one in particular.

_Probably horrible..._ Kagome thought, and was surprised to hear Inuyasha's response.

"I'm glad she's not here anymore..."

"Why?"

"Because she's _free_..." he whispered.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Eventually, Inuyasha had gathered enough sanity to walk back to the campsite Sango and Miroku had set up in the woods. The night was cold, but Inuyasha's heart was even colder. It was empty... with a piece of his heart missing.

"Inuyasha, are you feeling hungry?" Miroku asked casually, poking his chance to draw his attention away from Kikyo's "death".

"No," he answered bluntly.

It was Shippo's turn next. He made his way through the fire and climbed up to Inuyasha's head. He pulled onto his ears and said, "Baka Inuyasha!"

But he made no attempt to remove the kitsune from his head.

"Inuyasha, you know you aren't the only one feeling sorry. We all just stood there too," Sango said, trying a weak smile, but it was useless.

Finally, Kagome could take no more. "Osuwari!" _Plat!_ Inuyasha jerked up from the ground and looked up at an angry Kagome.

"Kagome? What's with you?"

She cleared her throat. "I'm asking what's wrong with you! Kikyo's dead, okay we got that. But she's been dead the entire time! But now she's free right? So why are you still dragging us down, baka?"

"Kagome-chan..." Sango whispered, having no idea how much Kagome's jealously stretched toward Kikyo.

"How could you know how I feel? HOW WOULD YOU KNOW HOW MUCH KIKYO MEANS TO ME?"

"I know, I know you would die for her if you could, but what about us? _What_ do _we_ mean to you? Are we _nothing_ to you?"

"Kagome-chan, that's going to far--"

"Sango, she does have a point," Miroku said. "I know her jealously isn't good, but what she's saying is right. We can't afford a time like this when we could be searching for the "heart"."

"But if Kohaku died in front of me, I would do the same thing too! I bet Kagome would be depressed as well, including you, Shippo, and Kirara! It's just--" Sango couldn't say anymore. She couldn't defend Inuyasha. She just couldn't.

"Besides," Kagome continued, her voice softer, "I don't think Kikyo would want you mourning over her. After all you told me yourself, she's _free_."

"I know, but..." Inuyasha shut his eyes and held onto Tessaiga tightly. At this moment, instead of crying and weeping, he should be going out and get his revenge. His revenge for Kikyo... yes, that would be the only thing that would calm him down. And even though she was gone... he had everyone else by his side. And Kagome too...

"I'm sorry," he said, shocking the rest of the team with his apology. "I'm ready to get revenge," he growled, with a new determination.


	34. Episode 34

Episode 34: Harasaki-hime

Just a few days later, the group arrived at a village. Or what should we call it?

A thriving city, oblivious to danger that lurked outside. People who simply didn't need a hanyou thirsting for revenge, a middle-school student who time traveled to the Feudal Era, a perverted monk, a youkai taijiya, a kitsune, or a nekomata. In fact, they were rudely pushed away and jeered at. The townsfolk called them out of age and weirdos.

"Can I kill them," Inuyasha asked Miroku. He shook his head slowly.

"Unfortunately, no."

Sango joined in, knocking her Hiraikotsu onto the floor angrily. "Can I knock them out then? Like, really, really, really, really hard?"

"Can I shoot them?" Kagome said.

"Can I burn them with my kitsune flame," Shippo began, when suddenly a large carriage stopped before them. One carrier had sprained his ankle as he carried it, and fell onto the floor. The carriage almost crushed him however, but Inuyasha leaped in and held it up before it hit him. The carrier was a mere boy, and cowered away into a sweet shop when he saw Inuyasha's silver hair and ears.

"What has happened?" a gentle, soothing female voice called out. A long, silky sleeve of fabric reached out. A foot wearing soft shoes stepped out of the carriage to examine the scene. As the woman did, Inuyasha felt his cheeks turn red. This has never happened before. There was no woman that made him blush... maybe it was her scent?

But she had none. Even though her look was of human, she smelled neither demon nor human. She talked to the carriers and told them not to apologize. Then she turned to smile at Inuyasha.

"Oh, hello there--"

_CRASH!_ With one swift movement he flipped over the carriage and backed away. He leaped behind Kagome and stared at the woman cautiously. "W-w-who a-a-a-are you?"

Shippo, being the only one who noticed his flaming red cheeks seized this opportunity to tease him. "Ooh Inuyasha! You're two-timing again!" He jumped up onto Miroku's shoulder, who was standing beside Kagome and smirked. "You're blushing so hard..."

Inuyasha grabbed his head, returned his own smile and flung him into the opposite direction. When Shippo was out of sight, he slapped his hands together and enjoyed a fit of laughter inside himself. But his pleasure was not everlasting. For soon, he found himself on the floor, face down, mouth tasting the bitterness of the grit from Kagome's magic word.

The woman laughed, her beautiful face without wrinkle or sadness. Her lips were small and red. Her face narrow and thin. Her eyes a bright brown. And her hair a gracefully tied loosely behind her neck, like a fabric of silk, dyed the blackest of black there was out there.

"How intriguing. How may I help you?"

Miroku of course, was the first one to make his move. For he was obviously, awed by her beauty and well... he wanted _something_ as usual.

"Oh you must be the princess of this grand city, am I correct?" He neared toward her and clasped her hands.

"Why yes."

"May I ask you a question, a question that very well determines the life I have ahead? You see, I am cursed. I have little time to live. Therefore I must ask you; will you bear my children?"

The princess stood there for a moment. Sango expected a slap on Miroku's face, but none came. In fact, she seemed to be soaking in his sob story and was considering it. "How many?"

So she took action. She ran up to him, punched his face, grabbed a hold onto his ear and dragged him away from his new target. "NO!" Miroku whined as he was dragged farther and farther away from the princess. But she laughed again and commanded the carriers to tell her father that there would be guests in the castle today.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The castle was rather quiet. The team had always expected castles and manors to be bustling and welcoming, but this one almost made everyone think it was haunted. They were the only one walking up and down the hallway. The servants, the shogun, and the shogun's wife were absent from the manor too.

Finally, they reached a large room with several mats and a small table with a tea set sitting on top of it. She sat down and poured cups in all of them. Then she gestured them to sit.

"My name is Harasaki. What brings you here to this castle?"

Everyone waited for Inuyasha to speak as always, but he was too busy staring at his tea.

"Why aren't you saying anything Inuyasha," Shippo whispered. Inuyasha didn't let his eyes off the tea.

"I'm checking if it has poison..." he answered. Shippo pulled on his ears and slapped his face. "You liar, you just don't want to look at her!"

Inuyasha threw him against the wall with a red face before sitting down. Miroku sighed and began the conversation, seeing that Inuyasha would never start.

"We're just travelers looking for somebody. And we were kind of tired of sleeping in the woods so we tried to get some lodgings until we met you, my lady." He flashed her a smile, which got him a hard slap on his face by a certain youkai exterminator.

"You may stay here at the castle if you like. You are a monk," she said, then turning to Kagome, "and you are a miko am I correct?"

"Yes," Kagome replied.

"Well you see, we're having a problem at this castle. My father is very ill. But the doctors don't know if he is diseased for real. He acts very weird. And in the mornings..."

"Harasaki-hime!"

The woman looked up to find the same boy that Inuyasha had scared with his looks by the door. He was breathing heavily as if he were in some great hurry, and was wet with sweat. He had his tufts of hair tied behind his head, and he wore simple clothes.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"The lord he-- he just died..."

Harasaki's eyes filled with terror. Tears brimming on the edge of her eyelids dripped onto the floor. She held up a sleeve to her face to dab the tears, but they only succeeded in wetting her entire face. Eventually, she gathered enough courage to follow the boy to her father's room. Inuyasha and the others followed suit.

After covering two long halls, they arrived at a smaller room. Inside was a man whose face was as pale as a sheet of paper. His hair was messy and his eyes shut tightly. Several people were sitting beside him, most likely his wife, the servants, and the maid who was taking care of him. At the man's mouth there was a path of blood that trickled down to his futon.

"Father...! No!" She ran over to his side and grasped her father's chilly hands. "Don't leave me... Father!"

Hours later, the princess retired to her own room for some time alone. The team was set to eat without their host, but Inuyasha couldn't touch his food. In fact, he seemed to be thinking very deeply about something. He avoided Kagome as much as he could too, which provided the answer to her immediately.

But before she could ask, the princess popped up in front of the dinning room and asked for Inuyasha.

"May I talk to you?" the princess requested.

"Alone?" he asked.

She nodded.

Kagome sat still as a rock as he got up and walked past her without a murmur. An aura of jealousy began to form around Kagome. She knew, and edged away from everyone. She couldn't help it. This bothered her so much. What was it about that princess that attracted Inuyasha? It wasn't her looks... they seen many beautiful princess and Inuyasha didn't even look at them. What was it then?

There was something familiar about her. Something. It was a feeling that they met before. But she couldn't put her finger on it. It was right on the tip of her tongue her face somewhat so recognizable yet so strangely vague.

Outside the dining room, Inuyasha and Harasaki stood still, feeling the wind blow across their cheeks. It was just silence for a moment, before she turned and smiled at him. It was a smile of sadness, a first that he'd never seen... in all but one woman in his life.

"You know, I was ill too. Like my father. I was dying, alone just a week ago." She returned to stare at the pond below them. "I saw the light, and I was about to reach and go when I heard a sound. A voice. So I halted and turned my head and who did I see? A wounded miko."

_Kikyo._

"She was very beautiful. But her clothes were stained with dirt and mud. Her hair was blacker than night. But her eyes... they were as dull as a doll's. But she walked toward me. Slowly."

_She's talking about Kikyo. Kikyo... she's..._

"She knelt and put a hand on my head. It was refreshingly cool. And she whispered, 'I can save you. Don't go. I can save you.' "

_There can't be anyone else. She's alive!_

"I told her that I didn't need saving. That I appreciated her offer but I wanted to go, to flee from this horrible life. And I told her, that when I passed away, she could use my body."

_What is she talking about--_

The princess touched Inuyasha's face and held it there for a few moments. Her hand was warm, but there was no pulse. As if she was heartless. And her flesh, it was real, but it was stiff when he held her hand in his.

"Is... is that why you have no scent? No aura, nothing?"

"That could very well be. I could be the real Harasaki-hime... or... the miko. Just thought that I'd let you know that." Her hand left his cheek and pulled out a parched scroll. She held it out to him and said, "The miko stayed for two days writing this out. It's a very beautiful penmanship, one that I could never master. She said to give it to the man wearing the brightest red clothing I'd seen in my life. So I believe, this belongs to you."

He took it and unraveled it. Characters, so gracefully created were all over the place. He couldn't make out a single word; but he had seen such thing before. He had seen _her_ write, and this was her style. Her own... Kikyo's words.

"I can't read it," he said.

The princess continued to smile. "I'll read it for you then. Let's see... It says:

"Shikon no Tama; four came from one  
Midoriko; one came from four  
Reincarnation; the one will rise  
Shikon no Tama; and make another one  
Gone; So then, it will finally end  
Eternal curse; the curse of the first one"

This made no sense to Inuyasha at all. What was Kikyo trying to tell him? What was it about the Shikon no Tama and the curse? And Midoriko... and by reincarnation, did he mean Kagome? What was gone? What...

The princess returned to scroll back to him. The smell of Kikyo's scent was all over the scroll. It smelled just like her. He'd never let it go.

"Thanks," he murmured and looked up. He braved his fears and stared into her eyes for just a few seconds, and then walked away back into the dining room. The door slammed, shutting the princess from everyone else. It was just her... and herself.

Quiet enough so that only she could hear, she whispered to herself, "No matter what face, smell, or costume I don on, you can never forget. You can never forget who I am, can you?"

_Inuyasha..._

~O~O~O~O~O~

The next day, refreshed and almost feeling reborn, the team set out from the castle with new supplies and well fed bodies. But the mood was terrible. Miroku was the least healthy; for he had tripped over Sango's boomerang while pursuing other women and sprained his ankle. Sango was upset at Miroku's behavior with the maids. Kagome was flaring frustrated at Inuyasha for spending the entire night away from everybody suspiciously and blamed the princess. And Shippo and Kirara absorbed their moods and felt gloomy and depressed.

Miroku suddenly ran to the front and stopped everybody. He held his arms out and shouted, "ALL RIGHT I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! WHAT WERE YOU DOING WITH THE PRINCESS LAST NIGHT?"

"Nothing," Inuyasha replied when he thought someone was staring at him. He turned and spotted Harasaki waving at him. His face turned red as he slowly returned his gaze at the floor.

"Inuyasha, you can tell us. It's been bothering me too," Sango said, her boomerang rising above her floor. Her eyes were somewhat creepy and her voice incredibly bored.

"You don't look as if it _bothered_ you..."

"You did something didn't you," Kagome snapped, her eyes glaring a hole into his skull. He flinched and backed up to a tree. "W-What do you mean?"

Sango leaned in toward Kagome's ear and whispered loudly, "I bet Houshi-sama's perverted habits rubbed off onto him."

"I bet he did something really serious. I feel sorry for her."

Miroku glanced at the princess and suddenly yelled. "Inuyasha!"

"What?"

"YOU SLEPT WITH HER DIDN'T YOU?"

"WHAT? I DIDN'T--"

"OSUWARI!" Kagome screamed at the thought.

"INUYASHA! I THOUGHT BETTER OF YOU!" Sango barked throwing Hiraikotsu at him. He yelped and leaped into a tree for safety, when the boomerang flew back in his direction. So he jumped out and tried to run for it when Kagome attacked him with another osuwari. Soon, he was covered in bruises and rock splinters.

"I'm never talking to you again," Kagome snarled, stomping off with Sango. Miroku nodded in agreement as he followed them for once without touching their bottoms. Shippo and Kirara simply left him alone.

Just then he heard an arrow whiz by. He got up and spotted the princess. She was holding a long bow, with the right stance giving some guards tips on aiming an arrow. The funny thing was the arrow she shot.

It was right in the center, right on mark.


	35. Episode 35

Episode 42: It _Was_ A Joke

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Look flowers!" Rin called out cheerfully. Sesshoumaru stared at her for a few seconds before walking away.

Rin turned to stare at the mountains. "Sesshoumaru-sama! Look there's pretty mountains! And a lake too!"

Jaken coughed and told Rin to be quiet. "You're annoying him," he whispered.

"Why?"

"He can see them all right."

"But..."

"Look, just stay quiet okay? He's mad--"

Sesshoumaru turned and punched him right in the face. Then he resumed walking. Rin knelt down to examine his injury. "It seems that _you're_ annoying him."

"It seems very much so," Jaken said.

Just then, Mika walked by. Her mouth was drawn in a scowl and her hands were clenched into fists. To express how mad she really was she yelled out some unintelligible words and then kicked Jaken in the head. She glowered at Sesshoumaru and walked grudgingly toward him.

"Why are you still here?" Sesshoumaru snapped when Mika caught up to him.

"Why are _you_ here?"

"You're the one following," he pointed out. Mika pouted at her loss in this argument and hauled a pebble in the street at him. She missed.

"Man I hate you."

"You're not alone."

"Hmmph."

"They look so adorable together!" Rin said holding her hands to her face. "Like a couple!"

Jaken slapped his green hands on Rin's mouth to hold in her reckless comments. "SHH! DON'T SAY THAT! IT'S NOT TRUE!" He glanced at the two. They didn't seem to hear. "They'll kill you! Or well... Sesshoumaru-sama will kill you!!!"

Moments later, Jaken had to be carried by Ah-Un to move anywhere. His legs were broken and his eye was swollen twice the size. He was about useful as a bag of rice dumped down an abyss. As the beast walked, Jaken complained, "Why me..."

For two days the group had been moody and gloomy. The only one was joyful enough was Rin who avoided all punishments by her comments because Jaken took the damage. There was no reason why. They didn't know why. Sesshoumaru and Mika were well... just being moody and irritable.

But it was torture. Their moods grew worse everyday. They glowered at everything, they snapped at everything said, (maybe only Mika did that), and they were away from the three all the time. Maybe they were meeting secretly to discuss their problems together, but it was hard times. Hard indeed.

One day, Jaken led Rin to a fresh river to wash her face when they heard some distant shouting that came from Mika's mouth. They hid behind a bush to eavesdrop, but they couldn't make out anything. Especially Rin, who was singing some song. Eventually they had to return to their business.

For a week, they survived, but curiosity was a powerful temptation. Jaken made plans to hear what they were so mad about. He revised and looked over them with Rin, who very much well didn't care and when the time came, he took action. But failed, sadly.

Instead, it was Rin who discovered the truth.

They were walking along a cliff when Mika suddenly collapsed. Her body swayed to side and was about to plummet to her death when Sesshoumaru caught a hold of her wrist and pulled her back up. She hit the rocks several times and cried out in pain at his recklessness. When she was back on land she coughed and vomited. It was a ghastly scene.

Nevertheless, Rin witnessed it while Jaken was recovering sadly from his recent injuries of punches and kicks on Ah-Un's back.

Night arrived with no more than a chirp from a bird. A quiet night. Rin was roasting up some mushrooms she had checked with Sesshoumaru that were edible and was waiting patiently when she spotted Mika resting peacefully beside him. She beamed at the sight, but was too far away to hear their conversation. Which was unfortunately far from pleasant.

When she had fallen asleep, Mika had woke up and yelled her head off. She told him it was all his fault and that it was his doing that she was in this mess. But because Sesshoumaru proved several strong points, she lost the argument. Again. And sadly.

The effects of whatever inside Mika was taking toll on her body. She ate less, slept more, and barely talked. She still had the energy to hurt Jaken, but she became sicker and sicker as the days dragged on. Finally, she lost consciousness for the second time.

When she woke up, her head was pounding. Her legs were weak and like jelly. She was a total walking zombie.

"Do you want water," Rin asked, holding up a bottle of tempting water. Mika didn't move, which meant no.

"How bout something to eat? I made delicious mushrooms!" She held up a stick poking through a really purple mushroom. It was doused in water several times, bringing out the aroma of... feces.

Mika's face turned blue from the smell. Her reaction was to turn behind a tree and throw up. Which she did. When it was over, she was weaker than ever. Fragile like ice.

"Please... don't kill me with... a mushroom..."

Then all of a sudden, adrenaline ran through her body. She jumped up and threw a her pointer finger at Sesshoumaru. She was so mad, it powered her up.

"IT'S. ALL. YOUR. FAULT. ALL OF IT. ALL!!!"

Then she fell to her knees, throwing up some more. Watching it made Jaken want to vomit himself. Rin simply ate her mushroom in peace.

Finally, seeing that no one can stand it anymore. Sesshoumaru went over to her side and dragged her away. He threw her into a river and stared intently for her to float back to the surface. As soon as she did, she slapped the water into his direction and flung a rock at him. It missed, as usual.

"What was that for?" Mika growled, wetter than a shaggy dog jumping into a pool. Her well cut bangs were all over her forehead. Her clothes clung to her like leeches and her face a perfect image of comic relief.

"You smelled."

"OH! So if one smells like vomit, you throw them into a river."

"I got thrown into a river many times."

"THAT'S YOU!!! Though I can't imagine it... OH WHATEVER! I'M WEAKER THAN A NOODLE BECAUSE OF YOU--"

"The more you talk, the more you'll cough up," he explained, with no care for her health at all.

"NOW YOU'RE SOME DOCTOR AREN'T YOU? IT--LET ME GO!!!" Sesshoumaru grabbed her by the collar of her kimono top and was dragging her back, unwillingly of course. She kicked and bit like a little child, but she could do nothing. When they were back, he threw her onto the back of Ah-Un hard, knocking Jaken off, and began leading the way. Mika scrambled to get off but Ah-Un clearly had no intention of letting her do that. The beast raised cries and jumped up and down. Then took off into the air, leaving her two choices; to hold on or fall to your death if you get off my back.

An extraordinary thing perhaps to witness such strange behavior but it was needed. After all...

Two weeks had passed. Each day, Mika grew meaner. She gradually recovered enough energy to move and paid more attention to her health. With the help of some weird objects she consumed, and Rin's care she soon got off of Ah-Un's back and back on the track.

But Jaken suspected something. Oh yes. Something big, and large that Sesshoumaru wanted to be kept secret. Something that Mika knew, that she knew so well that could be used as a weapon. And he was determined to find out.

Well, that's what he thought. He really didn't do anything. It was all Mika's doing.

They were resting in a field of green and grass. The sun was out and the world was at peace. But not Mika. In fact, she was like a pipe bomb, ready to explode the world with her deadly secret.

So when the shade was almost over their heads, Mika jumped up and went to the front. She cleared her throat and sneaked a grin at Sesshoumaru, who was as emotionless as ever. Then she held her arms out in an extravagant manner and announced--

"Everyone, may I have your attention?"

Rin happily gave her attention to Mika. Jaken grudgingly looked over.

"As you've realized, I'm been cranky and snappy these days. Plus, I've been weak and fragile. And I throw up."

"And you smell," Jaken added. Mika threw a pebble right between his eyes to punish him for interrupting.

"Does anyone know why?"

Rin raised a hand. "Because you have diarrhea!"

"No, no, I don't--"

"You're about to die, finally!"

"No, but what's with the finally--"

"You're lovesick with Sesshoumaru-sama!"

"NO! IT'S--"

"You ate a poison mushroom!" Rin suggested.

"No, I'm--"

"You have a hole in your stomach and you need urgent care from a doctor," Rin said.

"Um... close..."

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes as the guessing went on.

Rin put her hand down. "I give up."

Mika smiled. She had been waiting for this moment. Everyone would be shocked and she would get her payback.

"I'm..." She coughed. "I'm... pregnant!"

Silence. It was unbelievable. No one fell for her joke.

"What, it's true! You don't believe me? Look, doesn't my stomach look bigger? And I'm throwing up!"

Rin shook her head. "I still think she has diarrhea."

"NO I DON'T! I'M PREGO I TELL YOU!"

"Stop lying," said Jaken, who didn't want to admit it, but he was half believing her story.

"I've got proof! It's kicking me right now!"

"No one believes you," Sesshoumaru said. Mika gritted her teeth and ran over. She grabbed his hand and put it on her stomach.

"Don't you feel it???"

"No," he answered too quickly.

She glared at him and ran over to Rin and Jaken. She stood in front of them.

"Don't I look any different?"

"No," they answered swiftly.

She turned to Ah-Un. "What about you guys?" They simply made a noise and chewed some grass even though they didn't eat grass.

Seeing that there was no point in trying to trick them, her shoulders went down and she fell to the floor. "I admit it. I was lying..." Her eyes filled with tears and her fists went up and down. "I was just trying to see what you guys would do..."

All of a sudden, everyone sighed. Relief seemed to leak from them. Especially, and suspiciously Sesshoumaru and Jaken.

"I knew she had diarrhea!" Rin proclaimed happily, clapping her hands. Jaken clapped with her. But their victory was short lasting.

From the forests behind them came Yukuro, the snake youkai. Her eyes were first laid on Mika, and seemed to almost fall out too. Her finger quivered as she pointed at her.

"Mika!!! Did you get fatter?" she asked.

"Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"Well, you're not "fat" but it's just--" She walked over to her side. "Ah! Your stomach seems to be bigger than usual. And you seem a bit "womanly" now... what did you do to yourself?"

She had no answer. Only a glare at everyone.


	36. Episode 36

Episode 43: Cursed Hand

"Really, men these days, right Mika?" Yukuro said, trying her best to make her feel better about the situation. Apparently, it was making her feel worse, however. Her head was face down on her knees, blocking contact from the outside world. Her arms were holding her legs, and her mouth tight as a zipper stuck in the modern world jacket.

Over on the other side sat Jaken and Rin, who were huddling over a fire. They had no idea what was going on, or at least Rin did. She was still thinking that Mika had a bad case of diarrhea. So she did her best to cook up some natural food, which was raw fish. She washed it with care and water and stuck a stick in the middle for it to roast nicely in the fire.

At the edge of the cave sat Sesshoumaru, who was making it clear that he was not in the mood to talk to anyone. He sat still and silent, as he always was and his one hand on his lap. He stared outside, instead of watching everybody else.

Soon, after waiting patiently, the fish was cooked. Rin ran over to the gloomy Mika and stuck the fish in the dirt for her. She smiled happily, oblivious to the problems the pregnant girl was facing. And then she skipped away.

Pulling the fish out of the sand, she bit into it with no pleasure nor disgust. It was just fuel to her now and soon she consumed it. She set the stick back onto the floor and continued to gloom, when suddenly there was a sudden movement of the earth. Everything shook, from the trees to the sky, and even as roosting birds flew out they seemed to shake too.

In the distance, Sesshoumaru could make out a large silhouette of some sort of youkai. It was about five miles away from their cave, and as soon as it began to move, each step shaking the earth again, he could see the being clearly. But it wasn't just a youkai; it was masses and masses bunched up together, probably on a deal to borrow another youkai's power in exchange for their bodies. It was a hideous sight.

The eyes of this monster were nonexistent. The arms were oddly made, with the left having only three, colorful fingers, while on the right there were seven of them. Sometimes the fingers grew out of another finger. And the legs were either too short or too long, making it difficult for this being to move.

"What do you see, elven warrior," Yukuro asked, jumping to the entrance of the cave. Sesshoumaru didn't answer. He didn't need to. For Yukuro could see as well as he.

"Man that's a huge _thing_, I mean, I've never seen it in my life--"

All of a sudden, Jaken ran up to Sesshoumaru yelling his rocker off about some crystal. He held up a dull crystal whose youki was disappearing and said that Naraku's heart was nearby. Maybe... even in that colossal monster!

Sesshoumaru stood up and disappeared from the cave. He seemed to be only focused on killing Naraku, nothing else. Leaving his group alone. In a trap.

It was only a few moments before the cave's walls caved in. Rin and Mika struggled to run outside before it fell. Especially Mika, who decided that it was time to make a sacrifice. She knew she could not outrun the cave's destruction and that the only way to assure another one's safety was to leave her behind. So she pushed Rin as hard as she could, which succeeded in her catapulting her two feet away from the cave.

The cave and rocks toppled onto her, leaving no trace of Hashi Mika.

"Mika!" Yukuro held a breath and transformed into a thin, slithering snake but the rocks were piled onto each other so tight and neatly put to place, she couldn't find a single crack or hole big enough for her small body to get in. She gave up and returned to her humanoid form, digging her nails into the rocks trying to get them off. Then she shook her head. "There's no saving to do..."

Rin slowly got up from her bottom and looked back. The rocks were enough to make any youngster cry. As soon as she knew Mika was not by their sides, she raised her hands to her eyes and began to weep. Jaken could only stand there, emotionless.

"What are you crying for?"

Everybody turned around. Of course, there was no one else but Mika to say that.

"H-how did you get out???" Jaken could only stutter out. The rest just stood there amazed.

"Well, I'm not that weak. Look in the back and you'll see."

Rin ran to the back of the rocky mess and gave a surprised shout. "Ah! She's right! There's a giant space in here!"

"...Looks like the maiden didn't need savin'," Yukuro exclaimed, her voice loud and bright. "I knew you were alive!"

Mika could only slap her in reply. "Liar."

"No really!"

"I heard you. You said: 'There's no saving'... RIGHT???"

Yukuro walked away whistling innocently. "I don't know what you're talking--"

"ARGH!!!"

A growl from some being indeed. A rabid dog with sharp, toxic teeth that burned the floor and Mika's skin. The fur was black, with a few stains of brown. The eyes were red thirsting for blood. The blood of the woman, who carried the thing he desired.

"MIKA--! RUN!" Yukuro could only scream.

Mika's lip quivered as she got to her feet and began sprinting in the opposite direction. The dog quickly gave follow, at her very trail, ready to snap her legs. Just when it seemed lost, she spotted a band of thieves. Her only hope.

"Someone! Help!" she yelled, but she was unfortunate to trip over a stick that was dug under the ground so deep. She fell headfirst into the mud, tasting grit and was paralyzed, for a very brief time. Short enough for her to hear the cries of the men as the dog spotted more prey and jumped over her to devour. They screamed and wailed, sirens of distress and despair. Blood splattered all over the floor, and when the dog was done, only bones of the carcasses were there.

"Stay away!!!" she cried, kicking effortlessly at the dog a few feet from her. She backed up to a tree and tried to get up. But the dog was so near, its breath so foul...

A sword.

There was a sword. A sword that had been knocked to her side, a weapon that could defend her. But...

She was scared. The blade was so sharp, so smoothly made. One cut and the life would be gone. She couldn't. No, she wouldn't. She had promised herself, to never use a sword again.

All of a sudden, three more dogs appeared. Five, then rapidly escalated to eight surrounded her. It was either break the promise and wield the sword, or die in vain by their wicked jaws. She shot a look at the blade and reluctantly picked up the blade.

It had been a long time since the katana was her bloodthirsty companion. It was a part of her, a part of her soul locked away from horrible memories. She held it to the sunlight. The dogs charged... blood exchanged between them...

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Hurry up you two," Yukuro urged, running at full speed toward the bloody trail the dog had left behind. There was time; she was sure of it, there was time to save Mika. They just needed to--

She stopped. Her eyes couldn't behold the sight.

A pack of corpses, or what have should been corpses were scattered all over the place. Dogs, and humans. There were bones that belonged to the human, with some flesh still draped over it. But the dogs; they were split into half, the heads beheaded, the insides gruesomely slashed out. What kind of killing machine would do this?

There was a path of blood that continued toward the horizon. It carried the scent of Mika's flesh. Was she still alive?

_Maybe the thing that killed these dogs and humans... got Mika!_ She began to panic. She shook her head and turned into a snake. She would travel faster that way; and began to slither like a rocket, following the blood.

~O~O~O~O~O~

It was a trap. A fake decoy. Something to lead him away from everybody, he knew it. That was why he had to get back. Just when the smell of that ghastly woman came by. Sesshoumaru stopped. The woman wasn't very tall, she was covered in youkai blood, and she was... holding a sword.

The distance was... eight miles. He continued to run. He would meet this person soon enough.

But it seemed that she arrived first. Her hair was loose, flying in the wind like some sort of laundry. Her arms, legs, and face were stained with blood, green and red, mixing together and scars that were made recently were all over her stomach and shoulders. Her eyes were golden, instead of the hazel she used to have. And in her right had lay a sword; a dull, regular sword that had absorbed the blood thirst in the owner's body.

"You're... a demon..." Sesshoumaru murmured at her sight.

Mika didn't seem to think so. She opened her mouth, which had the smell of blood coming through and licked her dry lips. She gave a little chuckle before she started to pace faster, and faster until she was charging at him. It was a speed quite inhuman, and even he was almost struck, for his sword wasn't even drawn when she was onto him.

Like a sound of a badly made flute, the swords met together with a screech. It hurt his ears, but Mika kept pushing, kept her sword against his. He kicked her back, but as soon as she was back on her feet, she rose again and flew toward at him with the blade. She hacked at him recklessly, but with skill. It was a skill he didn't think she'd had.

Swift, and hard, she flung her arm at his head, kicked his toe to knock him confused, and punched his stomach, then she used her sword to stab his shoulder. He blocked them successfully, but with each strike, she started to gain more strength and attacked even more unpredictably.

"Aah," she snarled, throwing her foot across his face. He ducked and thrust Tokijin into her stomach, when he remembered something.

He backed away immediately, before the sword could touch her. But it was too late. Mika dropped the sword, and she came back. The blood was coming fast, even though it was a little scratch. He stood there, biting his tongue, waiting for her reaction.

She collapsed onto the floor completely, her eyes closed, and her right hand over her stomach. The blood wouldn't stop. But by the time he was by her side, Yukuro had arrived. Just in time.

"Sesshoumaru," she called out, breathlessly. The snake youkai returned to her humanoid form and immediately took a look at her wounds. They weren't serious, but she was worried about something.

"If she really _is_, this could be a problem," she warned Sesshoumaru. He was listening, but he was focused on something else entirely. It was her strange and sudden behavior. Just like last time, only this time she was herself, just a mad killing machine.

"S...sword..." Mika's eyes opened. "S...sword..."


	37. Episode 37

Episode 44: A Forbidden Mistake

Somewhere in the middle of the mountains there is a place that is said to have an item that can bring back the life of the dead. It brings back the bones, flesh, organs, and all, and is deemed a secret. No one knows how to make it. No one knows if it exists. It also heals the deadliest wounds. One little sprinkle of whatever it is, liquid or powder, and the scar will mend. It can even fix a broken stone.

It is something that not even the Shikon no Tama can do. Save a life. But is it true? Is there really something like that out there?

With these questions in mind, Yukuro set out to find this magical item. It was fishy and unbelievable, but with the herbs at hand, she couldn't fix Mika's terrible wound. She shook her head at Sesshoumaru's rashness. If he injured what was inside, Mika was dead.

All of a sudden, she stopped in her tracks. She cared about Mika? A simple human being? That was a new one. Oh well. They were friends now anyway. She continued along.

She passed several human travelers. Some of them were monks, priestesses, or sometimes a little human family, with the mom and dad and the kid. They were tattered clothes, however. It wasn't to be unexpected, but the way she was heading, the people that came out were dressed in rags. Was it the new style these days?

After two days, she reached a large village. It was empty as a pantry in a farmer's house, with beggars in the streets. Some had no hands, and some were missing eyes. Maybe they were soldiers who had barely escaped with their lives from some horrible war?

She was assuming as she passed by. It was bothering her. So she knelt down and asked a young boy who was healthy, but dirtier than a fish left out for days.

"What happened to this place?" she asked, stabbing her finger at the barren streets.

"It's the shogun's fault." His voice was rather gruff for a nine year old.

"What did he do?"

"Well, it's actually the shogun's wife. Their son is dying, so they're sending everybody to the mountain where the Elixir of Life is. Or the Powder of Judgment. Whatever they call nowadays."

"The mountain?"

"Yeah. It used to be a mountain of the holy, called Hakurei, but something happened and it fell down. Then these strange beasts that old time priests and priestesses destroyed and sealed away began to come out."

"And the shogun and his wife are assuming that it has some sort of magical power that would bring back his son's life? But if there are strange beasts, I don't see why anyone would want to go there."

"You have to, or they'll behead you. If you volunteer, they said that you bring back the Elixir and they'll pay you gold."

"Couldn't you run away?"

"Then they kill whoever is close to you, like your family and friends." He scratched the bridge of his nose and waved goodbye. "Got to go. Nice talking to you lady."

The youth left, leaving Yukuro a bitter taste in her mouth when she thought of these people. She ought to teach them a lesson. If they wanted to save their son's life, why not go themselves? Thousands of people were dying when only one was at risk. Selfish people. _I bet they haven't even asked for a doctor._

Well she was going to show them. She was going to fix that boy's problems and fetch that magical whatnot for Mika. And no one was going to stop her.

She stormed her way to the door of the manor and kicked it hard with her left foot three times. Two guards opened the door a squeak and demanded her name. She kicked it again and told them it was unnecessary. She said she was a doctor and she could fix the son's wounds.

They looked at her cynically before opening it wide enough for her to squeeze by. They told her to follow, and began heading toward the manor. They passed five doors before they reached a long hallway, which took five minutes to walk all the way to the end. There, a white screen door sat. She paced there immediately and pushed the door aside.

A sickly boy, struck with a disease that was hard to treat lay there. It was serious, but nothing that Yukuro couldn't fix. She yelled to the guards if they had any herbs. Jumping up, they nodded and hurried to get what she wanted.

Yukuro sat down and took the boy's temperature by placing her hand on his forehead. Warm. She opened his mouth and found it dry. He needed water. She proceeded to his eyes, which were red. His nose was clogged with snot. And his throat was filled with germs.

Without notice, the door the boy's head was facing was slammed open. A bushy mustached man taller than she was stood there. A woman with a geisha hairstyle and a scowling face was behind him. They were mad and shocked at Yukuro's presence.

"Who are you? What are you doing to our son? Poisoning him? Why you--" the man began but Yukuro calmly explained her existence.

"I'm a doctor. I'm treating his disease. He could've been saved a while ago if you just asked for one. But it's okay. This one doesn't matter if its serious or not. It just takes a while..."

"What are you talking about? The gods sent this curse to us!" the shogun's wife cried. Yukuro assumed she was very religious.

"Look lady. What age are we in? By now you should realize that this is something that can be fixed, not by chasing after a myth. The first thing you should do is call a doctor--"

"Bah," the shogun said, waving his hand in the air. He was satisfied with her first answer, but he was still in the mood for arguing. "Doctors? Who needs them? They're a bunch of trash, talking about this and that. I don't need them."

"I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about your son. If you really care, you should've done that instead of killing thousands of lives for such a simple task."

By this time, the guards came back. They were madly tired and had no energy to set the herbs down gently. Yukuro took out a piece of paper and threw one of the herbs on there. She asked for some hot and cold water, which they immediately obeyed to.

When the guards arrived with two pots of water, Yukuro dabbed a cloth of cold water and put it on the boy's forehead to calm down his temperature and numb any headaches he was having. Next, she asked for some ingredients to make some soup and began preparing a bitter sort of medicine.

When the hot water turned green from the herbs she mixed in, she threw some more herbs until it turned purple. Mixed with several other things, she raised the nasty thing to the boy's mouth.

"Here, drink it. It's going to chase away the headaches and make the snot go away."

Slowly, the boy his mouth and reluctantly chugged down the stuff. He gagged, but Yukuro held a cloth to his mouth so that he wouldn't barf and when the muscles were no longer in motion, she removed it and continued to relieve other symptoms.

"All right. I have a batch ready for a week. Give it to him warm every day and he should recover on his own. Make sure he drinks as much water as he can and he gets a lot of rest. And about those sheets," she said, pointing at the three covers on top of him, "he doesn't need that many. It makes his fever worse. You should limit it to one. His body will warm itself on its own. And if he has any more headaches, grind these herbs and make a drink of it. If you give it to him, it should relieve the banging and knocking." She took a breath. "Well, I'll be leaving now--"

"Wait!" the shogun said, halting Yukuro in her tracks.

"What? I'm not single," she said, lying through her teeth. She had been asked before, and she was quite busy. She wasted enough time already,.

"Those two boys, you can take them."

"What?"

"The guards. They're young and I'm sure they'll be fine apprentices. Take them as your reward, and some of the clothes I have to offer. I'll be sure to hand you some gold too."

"Save that when I come back. But the boys, I'd gladly take."

The guards suddenly became eager. "We'll do anything you'll say Sensei! May we ask you for you name?"

"Yukuro. You two?"

The boy with the brown spiky hair wearing the blue armor and the black balloon hakama raised a hand to his forehead. "Hai! My name is Haku, _des_, Yukuro-sensei!"

The other boy, who was a bit younger than the other, had his black hair tied in the back. He wore red armor, and his sleeves were shorter and his armor lighter. "My name is Otari, _des_, Yukuro-sensei! I'm glad to be in your presence!"

"All right Haku, Otari. Are you ready to go to the mountain?"

They seem to not care for anything for they were so bright and happy. "Yes! WE are happy to go ANYWHERE with you, Yukuro-sensei!"

Yukuro felt a migraine coming in. She rubbed her temples. That was too much happiness for her age.


	38. Episode 38

Episode 45: A Forbidden Mistake II

"Oh god," Yukuro moaned.

It was all her fault. She shook her head as she ran for her life. If only she was more careful...

_I only came here to find a remedy for Mika, not revive some chaotic murderer!!!_

An hour before, Yukuro and the two boys, Haku and Otari went to the mountain of rubble for the so called, "Elixir of Life" or the "Powder of Judgment". At least, that was what their intended desires were. As they headed toward the mountain, they could see clearly that it was a "mountain" after all. A mountain of rocks and stones piled onto each other. The basic form was somehow still there, but the top was completely gone.

They stood before it, a while to gaze at it. Yukuro had told the boys to get all they could from spying on the mountain from the outside. But in reality, whatever remnants of the barrier that existed were taking a toll on her. The two human boys however, young and innocent felt nothing.

Eventually, it was so hard to stay in human form, her body reacted and shape shifted her to a large white snake, scaring the human boys. They screamed and hid behind a rock.

"OMIGOSH! IT'S ONE OF THE STRANGE BEASTS! GET AWAY!"

"It'sssss me you dummiessss," she said, her tongue flickering in and out. She was a white snake, her eyes green, her eyelid purple.

"Yukuro-sensei, are you a youkai?" they asked, teeth chattering.

"Yes," she said. "Don't worry, I don't eat people--"

"Y-Y-Yukuro-sensei, can't you change back? You look really scary like that..."

"Grrrrrrr..."

"Yu-Yukuro-sensei? Why are you making that sound? You said you don't eat humans...!"

"That's not me--"

All of a sudden, the mist turned black. The light behind them disappeared, and the scream of the boys raised. Ignoring the pain she would have to endure in human form, she forced her body to shape shift again and told them to run away. She heard the sound of feet, the sandals they were wearing, but a denser, much more bigger feet were running too. What was it... she couldn't identify the being by the sound of the feet.

She stuck her tongue out. The air was really hard to smell, but with her tongue out, everything became clear. An oni... five feet tall, long arms, sharp claws...

Suddenly, Haku yelled. Yukuro tried to walk in their way, but the barrier fragments held her back, pushing and stinging her body. She kept going, but it was so painful. Finally, she got close enough to see what was going on.

The oni was not attacking, actually. It was guarding; a jar. _Must be the stuff,_ she deduced.

"You shall not pass! You have no right to take my creation!" the oni cried.

"Wait, please! We just want a little bit. I need to save my friend!" Yukuro explained, the barrier throwing her back. The oni turned in her direction, Haku squirming in his right hand. He walked until he was right before her.

"You all say that, but do you really mean it?" His dark eyes were intense. He was talking about her will. Her will to save Mika. Did she really want to save her?

Of course. What a dumb question. "Oh I mean it. And I'll do whatever there is in my power to obtain it!"

All of a sudden, the oni set Haku onto the floor. He folded his arms, his mustache making him appear wise. "Very well. Take only a handful and leave this place at once. But be warned; do not sprinkle it on the floor. Under this mountain lies something that is dangerous." He handed her a small bag made of leather and watched carefully as he lifted the barrier a bit so that they could all feel comfortable.

But she wasn't scared of oni. She was scared of something else, something vengeful and full of dark, dark secrets was watching her. She tripped once when she was almost to the jar, breathing harder and harder. She bit her lip. Now wasn't a good time to be getting chicken.

She scooped a handful, as the oni had instructed and began walking back when all of a sudden the place seem to shake. It shook so violently, Yukuro fell and the leather bag containing the sacred powder fell onto the floor. It landed on its bottom, but just touching the floor, so close, the fragrance so nearby, made the shaking even worse.

This wasn't the doing of a youkai. No. This was an evil spirit, a ghost who wanted to revive so badly, it was going to kill to get it.

The boys finally snapped back to reality and began running toward Yukuro. Otari fetched the bag and held onto it carefully as they evacuated from the mountain rubble. The oni, meanwhile was placing the barrier back into place and holy charms, but the spirit was not backing down.

All of a sudden, someone grabbed it. It was just for a second.

The bag dropped.

And poured the powder on the once a sacred ground, to revive a grave.

"AHHH!!!"

Yukuro felt like screaming herself. So she did. "AHHH!!! THE GHOST! OH GOD!!!"

But then she realized it was a cry of relief. As if you took a nap and woke up. She sneaked a look at the world, Haku and Otari holding onto her tightly. "I'm scared Yukuro-sensei... I'M SCARED!!!"

_..._ was all she could think of.

A boy's, or a man's, whichever you could say for you really couldn't tell, hand poked out of the ground. Like a zombie you see in the modern day movies. A head came out too, after a while. That was when everyone was truly shocked.

If the dangerous thing was dangerous, wasn't it supposed to have horns and claws and teeth? Well the boy (or man) that popped out didn't even feel like a threat. His long black hair was tied in a braid. He wore white and blue armor and sure, his face was adorably childish like, but other than that... he was a boy... right?

"What the heck are you looking at?" he asked.

Yukuro hid behind her fingers again. "It's... the dangerous thing!!!"

"I'M NOT A THING!" the boy retorted. He tried to squeeze himself out of the ground but he couldn't move. He turned to the oni, who backed away at his sight. He was surprised too.

"Don't just stand there, aren't you going to help me out?"

Yukuro gathered her courage and ran over. She kicked his head and tried to push him back into the ground from where he came from. "GET BACK IN THERE AND NEVER COME OUT AGAIN!!!"

"LET GO!"

"GO AWAY YOU EVIL SPIRIT!!!"

"OW! STOP--"

The boy disappeared into the large hole in the ground. Yukuro sighed and backed away in relief. Then all of a sudden the boy came back out again, this time legs and all. His face was drawn in a scowl, and his hands were balled into fists.

"I'm going to kill you, you little snake..."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"So, who are you?" Yukuro asked as the boy crammed food into his mouth. It looked like even dead people could eat.

"Why do you care?" he asked.

Yukuro made a weak grin. "Do you want me to call you "boy" all day?"

The boy sat there for a moment, seemingly to think and then said, "Bankotsu." Then he crammed more food in his mouth.

_I don't like that suspicious pause--_

"AHHH!!!"

The snake youkai leaped at the cries from Haku and Otari. She looked side to side, up and down before she could calm down. "WHAT WHAT?"

Haku spoke first. His finger was quivering as talked and his face white as chalk. "Y-y-you d-d-d-don't mean B-B-Bankotsu of the Shichinintai?"

"The what?" Yukuro interrupted, but Otari finished Haku's sentence before anyone else could speak.

"THE SHICHININTAI! THE BAND OF SEVEN! HE'S THE LEADER OF THE PEOPLE WHO KILLED EVERYBODY ON THE OPPOSING SIDE IN WAR ALONE!" Otari said.

"BANKOTSU KILLED 1,999 BEINGS! 1,000 WARLORDS AND 999 YOUKAI!!!" Haku said.

"1,000 youkai," Bankotsu corrected.

"1,999 BEINGS! AND YOU COULD BE THE NEXT ONE TO MAKE HIS 999 A 1,000 YUKURO-SENSEI!" they repeated together.

It took a few minutes to gather all the information and piece them together to come to the conclusion that in front of them, eating madly was a 10-year old murderer zombie who came back to life for the second time. When she realized that, Yukuro jumped away to be far from his presence, for she wanted to stay very much alive, thank you. "Y-y-you're B-B-Bankotsu?"

Bankotsu, who was pretty much done with his food by now waited several moments before answering. By now, Yukuro noticed that he seemed to be focused on one thing very intently. And that his aura... hidden behind the barrier was a deadly, sadistic, dangerous aura. There must be someone he was looking for... Yukuro was sure of it.

"Yeah," he replied.

"DON'T ANSWER SO LATE!"

"But don't you like suspense?" he asked.

"NO!"

He got up, a bit taller than everybody expected and threw the bag of powder in the air. "Anyway, thanks for this bag. It can revive lots of things right, even inanimate objects?"

Yukuro shook her head, trying to remember when it came to her. That focus, that instant of a hand grabbing the bag was him... "GIVE THAT BACK!"

"Sorry, it's mine now. Unless you want to trade your life for it," he said. Yukuro bit her lip, knowing behind that little cute face of his was the face of a demon, waiting for her to say yes. She bet all her herbs that he could kill them right now and dismantle them into tiny parts.

"Go ahead and keep it." She sat back down, disappointed at her loss. How can she save Mika now?

But the ex-guards, Haku and Otari had different opinions. They also didn't grasp the meaning of his threat.

"When Yukuro-sensei says give it back, you give it back!!!" they yelled, charging out the flap in the hut.

As they arrived outside, they saw him digging out a huge sword broke in half. He poured some of the powder on the sword and waited as the other pieces slowly reformed. They yelled, which gave them away their position immediately. Bankotsu dispatched them without even turning back. He grabbed their necks as they came flying by and stuck them into the dirt as if they were sticks and left the scene with Banyruu.

Yukuro could only sadly watch the entire thing behind the flap in the hut. "H-He's ridiculously strong... and scary for a boy..."


	39. Episode 39

Episode 46: The Ryumori

The sun was barely rising over the horizon by the time Mika's body gathered enough rest for her to function again. She blinked several times before her eyes could adjust to the light, and her hands to twitch before she could push herself off the ground. Or rather, Sesshoumaru's lap.

"S-Sesshoumaru! What are you doing here?" she asked, her face turning redder than a ripe apple.

His face was drawn in a scowl as he faced her. There were two cuts on his left cheek, a bruise on his nose and neck, and a hole in his armor. Rin and Jaken must have tried to heal them for him, and hurt his pride. Mika was about to ask about it, when she realized it would only make him feel worse. She bet that by being next to him, he was in a bad mood. A really, bad mood.

"Never mind," she said, before he could say anything. She climbed off of his lap and sat down on the grass. He was leaning against a tall tree that governed the forest of little sticks with no leaves on them. It was a strange forest. The grass was moss too, and a pool of muddy water lay next to them.

"W...where's the others?" Mika decided to say, when she remembered the scene from last time. It was a much happier setting, after all.

"They're not here," he simply replied.

"Did you take me here?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes softened a bit when she asked that. "Think whatever you'd like."

Mika beamed with happiness. She supposed that he was at least a bit worried about her. He wasn't so heartless after all. She stood up, leaning side to side as she staggered to the pool. She dipped her pointer finger in the liquid and raised it up into the little sunlight that peaked through the large branches of the tree Sesshoumaru was resting on.

It was peculiar water. It was muddy, but that didn't mean it had to be a color. In fact, the muddy water seemed to be blue, in reality, because as soon as she lifted it from the pool, the transparent water became a glob of blue.

"W-What??? That's... kind of cool. What is this thing?" She scooped some more. It delightfully moved side to side in her cupped hands. "Ooh look! Sesshoumaru, it's so fun! Aren't you going to try?"

Sesshoumaru shot a look at her, to be nice and immediately looked the other way after that. He must have not liked to play when he was small. "Put that thing down," he ordered. Mika pouted.

"Party pooper..." she growled, letting the glob fall from her hands. She turned to face him and sighed. "So, what are we going to do here?"

"Are you hungry," he suddenly asked.

"Huh? Um... kind of..."

Sesshoumaru stood up and began to walk away from the tree. She stood up to follow but he told her to stay where she was and don't move. He walked only five steps, when a barrier that she never expected to be there revealed itself as Sesshoumaru disappeared, just like that. Like passing through a wall, and never looking back.

_With those injuries... will he be all right?_ she wondered, just hoping that wherever he was going was not going to be dangerous. Even a daiyoukai like him could die... surely of fatal wounds.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The forest was pretty dark on the other side of the barrier but with heightened senses such as Sesshoumaru's, it was no sweat seeing where he was. Not that there was much to see; it was just sticks poking out of the ground and strange blue orb like objects floating in the air. Eventually he got curious and stood next to one of the orbs and knew he was at the right place.

Inside one of the orbs was a small snake like being with large, green egg eyes that slept with eyes open. It didn't freak him out or make him lose his composure of course, but he didn't think he'd be this lucky. Or was it the _female_ dragon lucky?

The ground shook suddenly. It was just a little tremor, nothing serious, but it wasn't the Earth's doing. It was the mother of these orbs, these eggs, who was looking for a very tasty meal; a meal that she, and all dragons love to eat. Daiyoukais.

His hand found the hilt of Toujikin as the head of the Ryu came out. She was big and scary. Her fangs were little scissor blades sticking at the edges of her mouth. Her two horns were sharp and pointy. And her breath an acid touch to the entire scene. It drooped onto the floor, burning through the moss and even some of her eggs.

"Foolish youkai," she said, gruff and barely intelligible. "Foolish," she repeated, "enough to come into my domain. And bringing your _mate_ here too."

"Shut up," he growled, not much for her teasing talk. "Stop stalling."

"Heh, heh, heh. Your father wasn't really much you know. He cheated when he killed one of my brothers to bring his beloved human food. He used those weird swords of his and not his true power. Are you the same too? But I doubt that puny sword of yours can scratch me."

Angered, just a smite bit, he charged at her, leaping a fantastic leap into the air and struck her head, right in the middle of her forehead, where a beautiful purple jewel was set carefully into her skin. She keeled over, drawing her youki into her mouth where she mixed it in with her acid and aimed it at Sesshoumaru. He dodged it successfully and proceeded to stab her eye. He landed on her snout and stuck Toujikin in her pupil, right on mark.

"It seems that you have fallen to your own arrogance," he commented as he landed back onto the moss. He flung the sword to one side and slid it back in his obi. "Considering you were fighting full strength you're pretty pathetic. I only fought you with one arm," he said, provoking her, "unlike you."

"DON'T. BE. SO. COCKY!!!" she shrieked lashing her tail on the floor. It slapped several eggs and hit the trees, while she bared her teeth at Sesshoumaru. "Show me your disgusting dog form and fight like one!!!"

"I'd be glad to," he said, his mouth widening and his marks growing longer. But before he could really release his true form, he heard someone screaming. In the barrier. He stopped. He knew at once what the Ryu had done.

"Heh heh heh. Foolish youkai. I warned you in the beginning." The Ryu rearranged the way she gleamed her pearly whites into a smirk. "Foolish enough to come into my domain, when you really know I'm just distracting you. You forgot, didn't you."

_Mika,_ was all he could think of.

~O~O~O~O~O~

It was pretty boring just sitting there behind the barrier. It was bothering her so much too. She really wanted to know where Sesshoumaru had gone. He always went to interesting places. She sighed. _More interesting than this place of whatever this is. Blue glob._

Speaking of glob, since he wasn't here, it was fine to play with the blue stuff right? She looked over to the pool. Nah. She wasn't feeling like it.

She reached up and touched her neck. It was a habit she'd do when she was bored. She would scratch this little scar on her neck, hardly visible and remember just a bit... just a tiny weeny bit of what happened in her past. And before she could fully remember, she would lift her finger off her neck and do something else.

But that was weird. Was her neck always this warm...?

Something burning fell onto her finger, so she pulled it back to examine it. Acid liquid... fell from the trees? She looked up. There was nothing. She stood. Maybe this place was interesting after all.

"ARGH!!!"

With that cry, it gave the answer to the acid. She jumped out of harm's way and quickly turned back to see who was behind her. A snake like thing with purple scales and a hole in the middle of its head... a dragon? She swiftly got to her feet and began to back away slowly when her feet felt the glob. She turned to examine the pool and found that it stretched to a place she couldn't find land from where she was standing. She was trapped!

"Great. Just great. He's heartless all right leaving me here with a crazed dragon thing." The dragon neared her, baring her teeth hungrily at her.

"Hey, hey, hey! Wait. If you're hungry," she said, kneeling down and scooping some of the glob, "eat this!" She aimed it at his snout, which splashed on his face nicely and started to make a run for it, running to her right.

It postponed the dragon for a while until she find a barrage of trees in her way. She was about to turn and make her way to another escape route when the dragon appeared, madly following her scent. He opened his mouth as if to yawn, but a cry of anger came through instead. She yelped and ducked as he swiped a purple paw at her. She crawled beside him, making no sounds and ran again, only this time in the barrier to escape her doom.

She leaped through the barrier, vanishing before the young ryu's eyes and fell onto a rock or something. Landing on her stomach, she received no damage luckily, because on the other side it was still mossy. She got up, touching her head in several places looking for the bruise when something touched her shoulder.

She opened her mouth to yell when she felt a thumb and four fingers. It was a regular hand, not a paw. She waited for this person to say something, and fortunately, it was Sesshoumaru.

"Mika," he said, calling her name for the first time, "I told you to stay over there."

She pouted again and pushed his hand off his shoulder. "Oh come on. How can I stay there with a dragon chasing me like crazy?"

Even with the darkness, she knew she had said something wrong. She just hurt his pride... again. "Sorry," she murmured before things got out of hand. But it was too late. Instead of worried, he was just as mad as a puffer fish encountering a shark.

"You're hungry, aren't you," he said after a while. She began to say no when an unexpected growl from her tummy came.

He began to walk deeper into the darkness, with Mika following, until they came to a place where the darkness was a bit dimmer. There, she could make out faintly a shape of a bigger dragon, the female mother that Sesshoumaru had freshly killed. In the center, the purple pearl shone with luster. Next to it, however was Toujikin, surprisingly.

He tried to pry the jewel out, by pulling the sword, but as soon as it fell out, Toujikin broke in half, then dissolved into sand.

"Y...your sword is..." She couldn't say anymore. "What is this jewel?" she asked instead.

"Something."

_I knew that,_ she thought bitterly. "Do I eat it?"

"No, not right now. Just in case, hold onto it."

"Why?"

Sesshoumaru flashed a glare at her that meant that he wasn't going to repeat himself. Mika hurried and picked it up before he ripped her head off. She slipped it into a pocket in her kimono.

There was silence for several seconds until Sesshoumaru told her to eat.

"Huh? You don't mean the dragon right?"

He ignored her this time and only sat down. He must have thought that he didn't need to answer such obvious questions. So Mika knelt down next to the dead dragon's stomach, which was covered with scratches from some large rabid beast and pulled off a bit of flesh. She began to feel sorry and held it to her nose. She gagged.

"Am I supposed to eat this raw?"

Sesshoumaru answered with a grunt. She supposed it meant yes. She threw it into her mouth, feeling awfully nauseous and swallowed it reluctantly.

"Eat the entire thing," he said finally. "And hurry up."

Mika sighed. _No way..._


	40. Episode 40

Episode 47: Meidou Zangetsuha

Now that he had no sword, what was he to do? Sure, he had Tenesiga, but it was not a weapon of destruction. The katana, brother to the sword he had once desired Tessaiga was a sword of healing, of saving and waving it around at enemies did nothing. He turned to look at Mika, who was busy wiping her mouth at the blood she had smeared all over her face. Just then his sword pulsed.

Around the dragon were the little imps that he could see when a corpse was around. They were so minute, they were barely taller than Mika's lap. Two had little tufts of hair at the bottom of their neck while the top was a bald spot. Some were red skinned, blue, and even green. They all had two fingers and one thumb, and they were inspecting the dead thing.

If he struck them, the dragon would be coming back to life. But, he wasn't planning to anyway, so he just sat there bored, waiting for Mika to finish her meal. Surprisingly, she caved almost half of the stomach until she was full and brimming with vitamins.

"I... can't eat anymore," she said, rubbing her stomach. If she was pregnant, it was really hard to tell. She had just eaten, and besides, whatever was inside her was not growing fast.

"I didn't tell you to stuff yourself," Sesshoumaru said, standing up. She gave her usual frown and pout.  
Evil Spirits Desiring the Jewel

"You told me to eat it all, raw too. So you can't go denying it's your fault," she growled, getting to her feet. She patted some of the dust on herself and watched a few blue eggs float by. She shivered at the creepiness and hurried to follow Sesshoumaru out of the barrier before she got herself lost in the darkness.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When they were out, Sesshoumaru asked her, "Did you find any exits?"

"What do you mean," she asked in return, watching him look side to side.

He didn't reply. That meant that he was going to do something crazy. Something that no human would dream of doing...

"Hold on to me," he said. Mika bit the inside of her lip as she wrapped her arm around his.

"Tighter."

She clutched on as tight as she could. "W-where are we going?"

His answer was a huge leap into the air, breaking through the masses and masses of long, finger like twigs blocking their way to the outside world. But he wasn't just soaring away; he was escaping. He jumped again in midair and landed on a tree, taking out into the skies again, getting as far away as possible from the forest. Mika almost flew away, until he stopped and listened.

He stood on the air, turning behind him, listening to the bit of silence for a while. Until the scent of mesmerizing death passed by. He grimaced as the trees shook.

Like a wail of a baby, five thousand times amplified, the small forest of the dragon shook like a little planet experiencing a world earthquake. Then it came. The bodies and snake like bodies of the dragons, blue, green, purple, red, yellow, and even black. They charged at him, and eventually, the body of the dragon Sesshoumaru made Mika steal the jewel from came as well.

Their mouths were drooling with dust, except for the freshly killed ryu, who was completely blind without her ball on her forehead. They opened it and shot energy balls at them, baring fangs and scratching the air madly. "DON'T LET THAT MISERABLE DOG ESCAPE!!!" the female dragon hissed.

Her dragon companions made bloodthirsty cries as their eyes gleamed at the sight of prey. Sesshoumaru returned their longing gazes with his deathly glare and eyed Mika. She wasn't shaking as usual. She was like Rin; as long as he was there, she wasn't afraid. She trusted him...

He began to fly away as fast as he could, when one of the younger dragons tore at his tail. They missed in succeeding in grabbing Mika and aimed at his leg. He dodged it and whipped one of the ryu's head off as he blocked a charge from one of the dragons. Mika held on.  
Demon, Sesshoumaru

Just then, he felt his shoulders lighter. He smelled Mika's blood and spun around his claws slashing through a dragon as he raced to pull Mika away. But one of them lashed their tails at him, injecting their deadly poison into his body. It didn't work on him, but it did paralyze him for several seconds, giving the time for the ryu's to bite into Mika's arm.

"NO!!!" she screamed, kicking at them. But her blood was like the elixir of God to them; and they licked her new wound with their lizard like tongues. Then they made way for the moving corpse of the female dragon, who floated before her. Her eyes were a dull green, one eye housing a large hole that was made from the Toujikin's blade.

Sesshoumaru made an attempt to rescue her, but several dragons coiled their bodies around his legs tightly and bit into his neck, thigh and his only arm. They began to pull too, but the pain was only fueling the building loss of his composure.

"Daiyoukai... oh how I longed to taste the blood of one again. One sip and I'll be fully revived." The dragon paused to lick her forked tongue along the sharp ridges of her teeth. "Are you writhing in despair, young daiyoukai? You also forgot I had one more life didn't you? One more... hidden away. You'll be my next meal, by the way."

The dragon opened its jaw and helped herself to Mika. She clamped down on Mika's stomach, the teeth poking holes through her faster than you could say "oh no". She tried to yell but her voice wouldn't come out. Only a weird sort of whimper.

Sesshoumaru finally managed to wring free of the dragons' and kick them out of his way. He leaped at the dragon with all he could, his hand reaching for Tenesiga without him thinking, and swung the blade to the side. It made a satisfying slash at the female dragon, and all of a sudden, a black void was made. It stretched out like a moon's crescent, all of his hatred and anger blasting at the dragon.

She screamed and when she was back to reality, the crescent sucked her in, slowly and painfully. She tried to fly out but it was like a black hole, pulling her in until the crescent disappeared.

Suddenly, the blade burned his fingers. He quickly put it back in its sheath and caught the falling miko as she lost consciousness. Unable to sustain flight any longer, he began to plummet, his arm holding Mika tight to his chest as he fell down, down below with his back facing the earth.

They fell into another forest luckily, but Tenesiga was pulsing. It was pulsing and creating a heat so ferocious, Sesshoumaru almost thought his sword was on fire. Just then, a black cow with three eyes and an old man came flying down.

"...Totosai," he said, as the sword smith's pet hovered above the ground.

"That's Totosai-sama to you, you young fool!" He aimed a look at Mika. "When did you go dating?"

Sesshoumaru gripped Tenesiga, ready to kill, and growled, "You better watch what you say."

"Okay, okay. Don't kill me here where the dragons can eat me after wards."

~O~O~O~O~O~  
Swordsmith, Totosai

"You ungrateful mutt, making my sword feel so warm! What have been doing with it? Whipping that poor girl with it?" He shot another look at Mika, who was propped up against a tree, blood still flowing from her but gradually slower. "You... didn't, did you?"

Sesshoumaru only had his glare and silence to attack his words. With enough patience, Totosai stated his business. He stroked the beautiful blade of Tenesiga as he did. "I came here because Tenesiga was calling me. You know the bond between a sword and its maker right? Well I could feel it. And I bet the owner of the sword felt it too. Especially," he said, emphasizing on "especially", "especially when you tried to save that poor girl there."

"What does that mean," he asked.

"Geez, you two are really idiotic brothers. I have to explain everything to you two... and it's even more disappointing when I think of how many years of knowledge you've gathered..."

The daiyoukai raised up his fingers, the bones and knuckles cracking nicely. "You do realize if I don't hear what I want to hear, that talkative head of yours is going to rolling away sadly in the wind, right?"

"Wait wait wait! Be more mature and have some patience unlike your younger brother--"

Sesshoumaru lowered his hand and took a step forward.

"Okay, okay, it's the change of your heart."

"My heart?"

"Yes. You do have one like everyone else. Just because you're a youkai doesn't mean you're heartless. Take a look at Inuyasha for example. He's naive, and considerably irritable. Not to mention you are too," he added, and bit his tongue when Sesshoumaru punched him on the head.

"What does my heart have to do with my sword," he snapped, his mood worse than before.

"Tenesiga is a healing sword. You know that the best. But because you've done things that you normally would not have done, such as caring for others," he said, pointing his hammer at Mika, "this sword has opened its hidden properties. Properties that were meant to be only used if you were beginning to mature. Meaning you've learned to have compassion toward others."

Totosai scratched his nose and sniffed. "Think back. There must have been several times where you helped someone or visited someone because you were worried."  
Wind CrestWind Crest

_'Sorry, I'm not him.'_

A moment of silence. 'I knew it was you, Kagura.'

'Why... did you do this...' The girl pushed back the blood with her hand, but it was useless. Watching behind the shadows, he stepped out and helped her put pressure on the wound.

'This is the first,' he whispered, 'and last time I will help you.'

The girl smiled a lonely smile. 'I knew you'd come...'

'Sesshoumaru, where are you? Help us! Rin's--'

Breaking through the wall, he arrived just at the right time. Foolish girl, he thought as he ran over and cut the enemy into pieces. Mika reached out and grabbed Rin away from the scene. And when it was done, they all walked back to meet Jaken, under the cooling sun.

With the tentacle nearing the crippled miko's face, he dashed toward her for her rescue. Just one swing, and the tentacle plummeted on the floor as if it was nothing. Like a little worm. When the battle was over, he walked right past her, just past an ordinary human when she smiled and said thanks. Whatever.

'You know Sesshoumaru, you've changed,' Mika said, her voice distant and far away.

'How much,' he asked, wanting to see where this was going.

Mika smiled and slapped his back. 'I'm not telling!'

'No, get away--' The reincarnation of that dead miko that sealed Inuyasha yelped, just as he was to near her when he, Sesshoumaru arrived. He slashed through his body without the use of his sword and when he lay in a heap of bones. He watched the girl bow her head and say thanks. Not that he cared. Just then Inuyasha arrived, his face full of sweat beads...

Slipping off a mountain to get a bunch of silly herbs for Jaken, he didn't think Rin would actually do it. He leaped and caught her before she fell. When his feet landed back on the cliff the herbs fell down before his feet. Might as well take it if she went to all this trouble.

'Thank you Sesshoumaru-sama! You are so kind!' Jaken cried when he came back with the herbs.

'Thank Rin,' he said, never intending to reveal that he was, in fact a bit relieved.

'Are you happy, Kagura?'

She only smirked. I'm glad... I got to see... you just one last time...

He reopened his eyes and sighed.

"Remember anything?" Totosai asked.

He glared at him some more before he answered. "Yeah. Horrible memories," he said, walking away.

"Idiot," Totosai added quietly, but not quietly enough, for his sharp hearing picked up it pretty quickly.

_Ka-tonk._


	41. Episode 41

Episode 48: Bloodthirsty Assassin, Mika

"You've awaken," Sesshoumaru said, as soon as Mika's eyes opened. She yawned.

"I suppose. Ow," she whimpered, looking over to her right arm. A bloody mess it was, with eight teeth marks dripping with germs and poison tattooed on her arm. "You didn't save me fast enough. Look at my arm!"

"This is a problem," a tiny, flea youkai said, jumping up and down on Sesshoumaru's shoulder. Just as he made a second jump, Sesshoumaru flicked him off. He flew so fast he had to land on the bottom of Totosai's hammer as he pounded the Tenesiga for any flaws.

"Wait, Totosai-dono! WAIT--" but it was too late, for he had already brought down the hammer onto the tip of the blade. He nodded in awe as he cried, "As usual, my masterpieces have no flaws. Except when you go flinging them around, like you two who don't care anything about my swords!" He scratched his head and looked down. "Oh Myoga, when were you here?"

"I've always been here! It's just that I was hiding in Sesshoumaru-sama's fluffy tail... it was so soft and comforting until he went into that terrible forest! I must admit thought, he knows how to care for his mistress..."

"Mistress?" Totosai lowered his hammer and knelt down to hear Myoga speak. "You mean that girl sleeping over there? She's..."

"Carrying the child of Sesshoumaru-sama's, I presume..."

"Oh my," Totosai agreed.

Mika chuckled. "They're teasing you. Aren't you going to kill them?"

Sesshoumaru raised a fist dripping with poison. "I'm thinking of killing you first."

"Uh, never mind."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"In any case, I think you're ready for the new Tenesiga. I'm going to reforge it as a weapon. You don't happen to mind, do you?" Totosai announced, after he finished looking at the blade.

"None," he said.

"Then open your mouth. Wider." He pulled out some sort of tool and yanked a fang from his mouth. "I'll need new materials you know. This doesn't come out of nowhere after all. While you wait, I want you to do a favor for me and get rid of those dragons looking after you."

Myoga nodded. "They remembered the taste of a daiyoukai and they won't stop. You know if you keep them alive, eventually all the dragons will seek you? And its not only you, they go after the girl too. Though I'm not sure why..."

_Neither am I,_ he thought. "I don't have a sword to fight them all at once. They'll group up on me if I transform too."

Totosai stroked his goatee. "Not a problem. Seek your brother Inuyasha. He has a sword right?"

Sesshoumaru grimaced at the thought of Inuyasha. "That hanyou?"

"He's not just a hanyou, he's your brother! Your half brother, at least. He carries half of the blood you have! It's your duty to help him and his to help you."

"Even if I wanted to, do you think that stubborn half-breed would help me?"

Myoga sighed. _He has a point._ Then all of a sudden an idea came to him. "I know! I'll look for Inuyasha and convince him to kill those youkai for you! How bout that?"

"Wait, wait, wait! Before you kill anything, can anyone help me wash my wound," Mika asked, waving her arm like a flag at everyone. The blood splattered on her face as she did. In disgust, Sesshoumaru to her to put it down and Myoga jumping back on Sesshoumaru as he guided her to a river nearby.

He splashed the cold liquid onto her water and let Myoga do the rest. Sucking in his cheeks he prepared to drink the poison out of her body. Soon, within several minutes, the purple liquid disappeared from her body and her arm. He leaped back onto the ground and rolled around, this way and that way until he spit it back out.

"I think a bit more rest and you'll recover. I didn't get that much blood, so your body will make up for that. As for the matter of dragons, how are you going to deal with it, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Myoga asked.

Sesshoumaru looked up to the sky, the dragons already circling the forest area they were in. They tracked his scent and Mika's fragrance of blood pretty fast. They were mad and pretty hungry. Their mouths were open, their tongues floating against the warm breeze, and their claws ready to kill.

"Why don't you let me kill them," Mika asked all of a sudden.

"What can you do, but get eaten by them?" Sesshoumaru countered.

"I don't want to hurt your pride, but at that time when I was using the sword, the odds were against you, weren't they? I can still move, anyway."

_She means to go crazy and kill everything, does she?_

Myoga glanced at Mika. "What do you mean, young maiden?"

"When I hold a sword, something takes over me and I don't know what I'm doing. But if you look at the wounds on Sesshoumaru's face and the hole in his armor, its pretty obvious that I was a match for him, right?"

He scowled and said, "We don't have a sword. Their scales are hard too."

Just then, Totosai approached them. "No worries. I brought a sword just in case for this problem. But you can't wield it though Sesshoumaru. It is a demonic sword, but your youki is too strong and it'll break. I think it would suit the girl over there." He flung a wrapped up blade onto the floor and unraveled the cloth.

He brought out a long sword with no curves, so it was not a katana. It was a Chinese sword, straight, and gleaming new. The hilt was wrapped in red fabric that would enable comfort to the user's fingers. And the tip of the blade was dreadfully sharp.

Mika reached for it and felt a tingle of excitement through her body. She retracted it and bit her lip in anxiety. Suddenly, the dragons shrieked. They had found them.

Diving in at them with the highest speed possible, they crashed the ground with an incredible force, giving no time for Totosai to hand the blade to Mika. Everybody jumped in directions opposite of each other, like a nest of birds flying away as the branch collapsed. More dragons faced them as everyone got back on their feet. There was no option for Mika. It was either do it or die.

"Give me the blade!" Mika demanded, ducking a swipe of a paw aimed at her. She ran the other side and found herself blocked. Totosai flung the Chinese sword at her, the beautiful steel gracefully turning in circles in the wind.

She caught it, and felt a sensation of blood thirst through her body. Her vision blackened out, and soon her fingers were wrapped around the hilt. As soon as she looked up, the first two dragons were slashed to pieces. She leaped and spun around, swinging the sword so hard it snapped a tree in half.

She proceeded to kick a dragon off its unbalancing two feet and dispatched it with a single stab to the throat. She flung her leg off of its neck and hit another with the end of the hilt to stun it, and slit its eyes, blinding it completely. She then flung her blade at one and fell to the floor.

Her body could not keep up. She was so tired, her muscles not used to so much action. She struggled to get up to her knees, and had to fall back down to dodge a dragon. She clamped down on her teeth and tried to fetch the sword she thrown.

As soon as she touched the blade, she went into another frenzy. But it lasted only five seconds until she sprained her ankle. Crying out in pain, she pushed herself back onto the floor clutching her ankle so tightly as if it were falling into millions of pieces. The remaining dragon, big and muscular approached her.

"No... I don't..." She tried to back away but her body wouldn't move. She shut her eyes as the dragon made an attempt to bite her head off.

Sesshoumaru flung his hand at the dragon and punctured a hole in him. He threw him aside and knelt down beside Mika. As he helped her up, he began to wonder curiously about this miko. Or killer, he would put if she wasn't a human with a sprained ankle.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"But that was some good moves you did out there. Not a swordsman, at least. What were you back then, before you became a miko," Myoga asked, leaping onto Sesshoumaru, trying to get a sip of his blood. The daiyoukai flicked him off again.

"I don't remember. My past is just an eerie blank. I don't remember anything else..." Mika answered.

"What about your nightmares?" Sesshoumaru suggested.

"Oh, they stopped a long time ago. Like, when you fought that big monster thing that absorbed youki." She touched her neck again.

"I see," he said.

~O~O~O~O~O~

With the smell of revolting dead dragons nearby and the constant hammering, it was hard to sleep, but for some reason, Mika closed her eyes and immediately she was asleep like a log. She must have been tired. Or maybe it was because she was used to noises like that.

But it was a fitful sleep. The blood that she had drew out of the dragons kept replaying in her mind. Images of her fighting to the death with a blood thirsty grin were everywhere. And the nightmare... it was resurfacing again.

Only this time, it was different. It was so horrible. So bloody and heartbreaking...

In a forest once more, Mika was following the trail of a man that had almost killed her intentionally eight years ago. He had finished fighting an entire army on his own, and even for him was probably tired and resting somewhere. She searched the entire forest until she found him.

She grabbed the hilt of her katana and leaped in front of him. His eyes were no longer full of paranoid, but he had turned into a murderer. He must be killed, she thought, stepping toward him. She must have her vengeance.

She yelled, charging at him. But he didn't even panic; and caught her wrist with no problem and flung her aside. She fell on her back, vulnerable to an incoming sword blow to the stomach from his giant blade. She rolled away and attempted again.

This time, she broke through his armor and pierced his chest. But no matter how hard she pushed, it wouldn't pierce through his body. Only the tip reached in. She screamed and pushed, and pushed. But he wouldn't die. He just stood there, holding the blade with an unforgettable grin.

'Stupid girl,' he said, breaking her katana. He kicked her legs and pulled the blade out of the ground. He hit her with the hilt, probably giving her one last chance to live, and left as soon as she hit the floor.

She couldn't do anything. She couldn't get her revenge. All she could do was yell out who she wanted to kill, what she wanted to do.

Just like last time.

'When your coffin is handed to you, I'll be there!!! I'll be there laughing at your grave! You will die by my hand!!! I swear you will!!!'

But he ignored her.

Just like last time.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Waking up the next morning, barely dawn, she wept. She wept at the past she had rediscovered and detested herself. A killer... she was almost a killer... She couldn't live knowing that.

But...

She stroked her stomach, remembering what everybody had told her. If there really was a child inside her, she couldn't go die.

Not yet. She'll wait.


	42. Episode 42

Episode 49: Trap

Finally...

Finally, he got away from Naraku. He remembered what he had done, who he had killed, and who he was. He remembered his sister, the dying face of his father and comrades, and how desperate Sango was when she tried to bring him back to his senses. But no... he couldn't tell her yet. It would only pain her.

No. There was only one person he could go to now. That woman that held the bow and the key to ending Naraku's life. His savior... he could go to Kikyo.

Kikyo was the woman that sealed Inuyasha to the tree for fifty years. She was also the object of desire, for Naraku's human half at least, until he erased it completely. He paced through the woods and continued walking until he spotted a woman wearing a beautiful kimono. A princess? He had to sneak by.

"You are Kohaku, are you not?"

He spun around, his hand holding the chain scythe tightly. Kikyo... was not there. But in replacement, there was the face of Harasaki. She walked toward him with sad eyes. "Kikyo-sama told me of you." She pulled out a jewel, dark and corrupted. "This is the Shikon no Tama is it not? But without Kikyo-sama's powers, I cannot purify it."

"Where is Kikyo-sama?"

"You were looking for her?"

"Yes."

"I do not know. That is why I have come out of the castle to find her. To tell her that I have done what she wants, and give her this."

Kohaku tried to hide his disappointment. "I thought you were Kikyo-sama."

"Yes. She may be hiding inside me, even now, waiting for the right time to come out. But if she did not use my body..." She raised her pretty face to the sky. "Perhaps she escaped and is struggling to live, to flee from her enemies. Either way, I must repay her kindness for saving my life."

_The same as me._ "Can I come with you? I have a request. Something that I want her to do."

"What would that be?"

_I can't tell it to anyone yet._ "It's personal."

"I see. Of course you may."

~O~O~O~O~O~

When the afternoon surpassed its limits to hold its peach-colored blanket over the earth, it hid behind a cloak of the night, black and decorated with beautiful stars and a beautiful lit moon. It shone over their little campsite, the trees and the river, a sparkling touch. And the cicadas out, chirping.

He was napping, trying to rid his nightmares when Harasaki stood all of a sudden. Her breathing was slow and abnormal. As if she were sleepwalking. Her hands were to her sides, her head down, the shadow covering her face. Then she raised it, and turned it to Kohaku.

"Kohaku."

He jumped up, his hand over his scythe. The face of the dead miko he had come to find had replaced Harasaki's. "K-Kikyo-sama? You were hiding in Harasaki-hime's--"

"No, she channeled me."

"Ch-channeled?"

"Harasaki-hime is the daughter that holds the bloodline of the greatest spirit mediums. Since I am originally from the dead, she can call me for about five minutes. Five minutes is all she can do, otherwise the attachment to my clay body will be severed."

"So, you are alive, Kikyo-sama?"

"Kind of. Before you can tell me your request, I'd like you to find me. Eight kilometers from here, you will hear from the villagers of a mountain covered in mist. Inside there, somewhere I should be resting."

"Y...you don't know where you are?"

Kikyo grimaced. "Unfortunately no. That is why I need you to find me. Can you do that, Kohaku?"

_I have to. If I don't..._ "I will."

Kikyo's head dropped, and Harasaki's breathing became slow again. Then she walked backwards to the tree and sat down. There, she fell asleep, the rhythm of her breathing regular. Eventually he fell asleep too, his hand on his neck, tight and secure.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Are the burns from the dragon-scaled Tessaiga feeling better?" Kagome asked, wrapping new bandages over Inuyasha's hand. He nodded.

Recently, Tessaiga had gained a new ability to suck in youki. They had encountered a youkai with hard armor that sucked in youki. However, for some strange reason, as Totosai said, he was unable to master it at this moment. But he was determined to. And he was going to.

Every time he took it out, the blade would burn his hands, scalding them to the point of a second-degree burn. Once, the fang threw him backwards. He shook his head at those bad memories.

" 'You have to learn how to use the Tessaiga properly,' " he imitated, reminding everybody the grim expression the old sword smith used. "The question is, how do I learn it, darn it!!!"

"Osuwari," Kagome said.

_CRASH!_ "Why do you keep doing that? WHAT DID I DO???"

"YOU SAID THE SAME STATEMENT FIFTEEN TIMES TODAY!"

"FOURTEEN! STOP MAKING IT WORSE!"

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME! OSUWARI!"

"ARGH--_SPLAT!_...you're not my mother..." he grumbled, his back aching and his head hurting.

All of a sudden, Sango jumped up. She ran out of the hut they were staying and into the bustling streets. She yelled out, "Kohaku!"

The boy who was standing beside a tall woman, not much taller than Sango turned and ran as soon as he saw her. The woman, Harasaki-hime, she deduced, ran with him as well, disappearing in the multiplying crowds. She tried to run after him too, but then decided that it was time to go follow him.

"Sango-chan, you spotted Kohaku-kun?" Kagome asked, when a breathless Sango came rushing in. She paced over to fetch her Hiraikotsu and whistled for Kirara to come. As she checked her hidden weapons she turned to Inuyasha. "You don't have to come. I can go by myself."

"But what if it's a trap?" Inuyasha countered. "My hands are fine. I just won't use the dragon-scaled Tessaiga."

"Inuyasha..." She nodded. "Where's Houshi-sama?"

Kagome and Inuyasha lstayed silent and looked the other way. "Ooh look, butterflies!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Who was that beautiful lady that called your name, Kohaku-kun?" Harasaki asked out curiosity as soon as they entered the mountain range. He sighed.

"My sister," he said. "But... I can't let her know yet. It'll only pain her."

Unsure of what he was talking about and not wanting to bring down his mood, Harasaki suggested that they take a break and changed the subject. As soon as the ache in their legs were gone, they went in deeper into the forest.

The mist became thicker until Kohaku had to hold Harasaki's wrist so they would not get lost. They bumped their feet on rocks and Harasaki almost hit her head on a tree. Soon, they came across a large lake. They pondered ways on how to get across.

"Maybe we should see if there's other ways to get across. Like a strip of land--" Kohaku began until they heard Sango's voice. He began to panic, when the ground shook. "W-what's going on?"

"Should I draw out Kikyo-sama's soul again?" Harasaki asked, her hand slipping from Kohaku's wrist.

"Not yet--"

"Kohaku!" Sango landed onto the floor with a thud and bit her lip when she really saw that Kohaku was there, right in front of her.

By now, Inuyasha and Kagome had caught up. However as soon as Kagome was down on the floor, she wrapped her arms around Inuyasha, tightly, disabling his mobility. "K-Kagome? Let go!"

Kagome didn't answer. And Miroku was still behind them. He growled and tried to remove her hands, but she was so strong. Then he realized that instead of hands, there were claws.

"Sango!" he yelled, but she couldn't hear. She was stuck to the ground as well. Vines of some sort wrapped around Kirara and Sango's ankles. They moved side to side, and tried to hack at them with their paws and katana, but they would not let go. A trap!

"Oi, oi, don't make me laugh."

A voice. Where? Inuyasha strained to turn around to find the person speaking. But the mountain was really covered in mist this time. Even Kagome's fingers were invisible.

"To be defeated and rendered immovable by such simple illusions... How can Naraku not kill trash like you guys?"

"How do you know about Naraku? Inuyasha shouted as a man wearing his hair in a ponytail stepped out.

"Oh come on Inuyasha. I expect even a brain like yours would be able to figure it out." He held out a flower shaped almost like a tulip and blew it at the scene, revealing all that was fake. Kagome, the vines, the mists, the lake, the trees vanished as the flower petals blew away. "I'm one of Naraku's "children", obviously. Byakuya, is my name."

"_Temee_," he snarled, when he realized that Kagome was not by his side. "Where did you take Kagome???"

"I wasn't the one who hid her you know." He grinned and folded his arms. "That burden of a beast did. In any case, I didn't come here to capture your beloved." He looked ahead. "But your past one."

"Past--"

_Kikyo... he means her? She's alive??? Here???_

Kohaku and Harasaki, on the spotlight were surprised to the bone when Shinidamachu surrounded them, green and blue mixing together. They tickled their shoulders and flew out like a barrage of rams on a stampede. As soon as they were done, Harasaki tapped Kohaku's shoulder and gave him a silent farewell with a blink of her eyes.

"If Kikyo-sama's body is destroyed, my body will take that place. When that happens, please, forget about me and make sure she gets out of here safe," she said, with a smile so gentle on her face. She dropped her head and began to chant. Her breathing gradually came to a stop as a single soul, pure and small flew into her body.

Meanwhile, Byakuya released a flock of youkai toward the source of the Shinidamachu and found the broken body of Kikyo's. He grinned and whispered to the dying miko, "Good bye, Kikyo."

Kohaku, bit his lip and helped Harasaki escape. As soon as they were from the scene, Harasaki lost her consciousness and tripped. That meant Kikyo's body was destroyed. Harasaki was... dead. Slowly the body of the once a princess got up. In replacement of Harasaki's face was Kikyo's, hardened by grudges and sorrow.

"Kikyo-sama, this way," he said, pulling on her hand and making way out of the mountain. But even though Byakuya didn't expect this sly trick, he had prepared a bunch of youkai standing behind Inuyasha and Sango, stacked up like a wall. When Kohaku approached them, they revived and stirred. Jumping up, they began to combine each other in rapid speed. The result stood before them, hideous and large.

He readied his scythe but before he could strike, Byakuya had two ground youkai wrap their tentacles around Kikyo's new ankles. They stretched all the way to her arms, to her neck where a sharp spike was ready to slit her throat at any moment. Backing away, the youkai then carried her to the sky, escaping with their prize faster than a thief at a bank.

Inuyasha, drowning in despair could only watch as one of his precious ones was taken away. He gritted his teeth and could only call her name.

"KIKYO!!!"

Byakuya chuckled. "Yelling her name won't bring her back. Well, see you later, doggy," he said, leaping on his head and throwing the flower aside. As soon as he did, he flew away in a paper crane.

"Darn him," Inuyasha said, wiping his mouth. Kohaku could only swallow as the youkai was sucked into a certain person's Kazana.

"Miroku! You're late!" Inuyasha greeted him, running in the opposite direction. Sango, sitting on Kirara chased after him. "Houshi-sama, let's go rescue Kagome-chan!"

"Wha-- but I'm so tired," he complained, his hands on his knees and his head facing the floor.

Sango held out her hand to Kohaku and told him to get on. At first, he hesitated, wondering if she'd feel bad, but there was no time to be wondering at trivial things. Kikyo's life was hanging by a thread and so was that girl with the green skirt. He leaped on, holding tight.


	43. Episode 43

Episode 50: Some Fast Thinking

The White Child  
Being imprisoned in a stinky place with stuffy air and no light was no place Kagome wanted to be. She opened her eyes and did her best to make her hands loose when all of a sudden, a baby voice echoed through the cave. It was nostalgic and unpleasant to hear it.

"Greetings, Kagome."

_The_akambo, she thought. "What do you want with me?"

"Nothing really. Just the Shikon no Tama you have."

_Shikon no Tama? What is he talking about? I don't have such thing..._

Moryomaru stepped out of the shadows and approached her. His chest tore open, a little muscle supporting the baby as he slowly came out from his internal insides. "That face of yours is disturbing. You do have it, don't you? Naraku killed Kikyo, and when she fell, the Shikon no Tama dropped. You picked it up, didn't you?"

_They'll kill me if they find out I don't have it..._ "So what? I won't give it to you anyway."

"That's true. But... as we speak, Inuyasha should be coming over here. If you see him and your precious friends being absorbed into this body, you'll hand it over, won't you?"

_Little babies aren't suppose to blackmail people,_ she thought, and remembered that the baby was no ordinary one. He could see into people's hearts, had another half called Hakudoshi that was missing from the scene, talked, and carried Naraku's heart. He was more dangerous than any human.

"Inuyasha will beat you before you can!" she protested, insisting on her opinion. Inuyasha would be able to, right?

Suddenly, Moryomaru retracted the muscle. The baby went back inside his chest, the skin and flesh closing up, as if it were a wound being healed in fast motion. He turned and walked away from the cave, just far enough for her to see a bunch of youkai carrying something strange.

A new victim? No... a draping kimono of wonderful colors was flapping in the wind. The designs and the shapes decorated on the kimono could only belong to Harasaki-hime, as she remembered. They had caught her?

All of a sudden, Moryomaru jumped out of the cave to attack the youkai. He dispatched them easily, and when he came back, a young girl, just a few years older than Kagome was in his arms. She was certainly wearing the clothes of a noble, but her face... it was a mirror image of Kagome's.

"Kikyo... was her name, wasn't it? Oh look... the Shikon no Tama." Moryomaru raised his other hand to take it from her.

_Oh no! They found out! And they kill us too--_

But Kikyo was not going to hand over the Shikon no Tama as if it were candy. Her eyes flung open as soon as Moryomaru set foot back into the cave. Her hands, rose to his face. She concentrated all her spiritual power, until an electricity like light surged from her hands. Finally, he let go of her.

She landed onto the ground, the floor reacting strangely to her presence. It grew vines and roots that coiled around her ankles and neck. Then it grew toward the wall where Kagome was stuck to and stopped moving.

Kikyo was huffing and puffing as if she had run a marathon and was trying to stop breathing so fast. But her face was clean, so she must have not fought a hard battle. Maybe it had to do with her soul or something.

A sparkle of black radiated somewhere in her sleeve. It was shaped like a ball, so she deduced it was the Shikon no Tama.

"I... will... not hand over the jewel... to trash like you...!" Kikyo said, getting as much energy she could muster to speak. Then her head dropped and she stopped breathing. Or it almost seemed so. It was so quiet, you had to look at her to see if she was still alive.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When Kikyo woke up, her eyes were dull and unhappy. She expected that of course; if they looked the same, their opinions of their prison should be identical, right? She rolled her eyes over to Kagome. She was frowning.

"Hi Kikyo. Nice seeing you there." She tried to smile for her, but she was feeling uncomfortable. Maybe later.

"Don't force yourself. Save your energy for when we get out."

_...She talked to me! Without any hatred too._

"I know." She sighed. "They said that Inuyasha's was coming."

"Inuyasha...?" Kikyo's eyes became more sorrowful. She seemed to be so far away when she spoke his name. "I hope he does not come."

"Eh? Why?"

"Inuyasha's sword... I bet he has some new special ability by now. He probably hasn't mastered it."

_'More beautiful and intelligent,' was it? I'm not leaning on the more beautiful side, but she is smart. And we didn't tell her anything, did we?_ "He does. It's called the Dragon-scaled Tessaiga. It sucks in youki but every time he uses it, the sword burns his hands. And if he holds it too long, it backfires on him and he gets blown back."

Kikyo thought for a moment, absorbing all the information before nodding. "I see."

"Um... so, do you have a way to get out of his place?"

"I'm not sure I do, but Harasaki-san might."

"Harasaki...? You weren't pretending to be that princess?!?"

"No. Even I can't do that. She channeled me. In her veins flow the blood of the greatest spirit mediums. But my body is destroyed while she channeled me, and I have no clue on how to bring her back unless my soul is drawn out."

"Oh."

"Maybe if we wait till dawn."

"But, we can't wait that long. Moryomaru will take the Shikon no Tama."

"It's midnight. Just a few hours. If Inuyasha comes... if he comes, and they fight for some time, Harasaki might be able to get us out."

"What do we do then, while we wait?"

Kikyo shut her eyes at that thought. "Do you have any ideas?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

As they ran up the hills and out of the dead mountain to follow the scent of Kikyo and Kagome where Inuyasha had caught on, Sango couldn't help but feel regretful. _If I hadn't gone looking for Kohaku, Kagome-chan might have been here with us,_ she thought.

"By the way, where's Shippo," Inuyasha asked, as Miroku finally caught up to them.

"He's still in the village. He said he wanted to wrap things up with someone."

"Probably some random girl he got with."

"I wonder if she's pretty," Miroku asked. He ducked and went far behind the team. But Sango was too deep in her thoughts to hear his comment. He sighed a sigh of relief when all of a sudden, he felt a rock fly onto his forehead.

"Sango, did you throw that rock?" he asked, running beside Kirara.

"Yeah. I had feeling you said something that I wouldn't have liked so just in case I handed you punishment." Kirara went faster so that Sango and Kohaku didn't have to face him. Miroku felt shame creep up his pants.

"Trained instincts," Inuyasha said, eying Miroku in a way that he didn't really like.

Eventually, the village came into sight. Shippo was sitting there, face torn, tears dripping down onto the floor, snot flowing from his nose. He was crying. Inuyasha groaned as he halted and threw the kitsune over his shoulder.

"Girl dumped you or what?"

Shippo sniffled. "We promised to meet here at this hut, so that I could tell her goodbye but... she was hanging out with another boy!!!" He buried his face in Inuyasha's red sleeve. "Women are such liars!!!"

At once Inuyasha's face went dark.

_'Inuyasha, we'll meet at the Goshinboku in the afternoon. Is that all right with you?'_

He smirked and laid his head on Kikyo's. 'Yeah. It's fine.'

"Inuyasha?" Shippo asked, poking his cheek. He slapped him off his shoulders and flung him over to Miroku. "You carry him."

"EH? Why me?" Miroku looked at Shippo cynically and cleared his throat. "Did you say anything depressing to him?" he whispered.

"I only said "women are liars"..."

He sighed. "He's probably thinking about Kikyo-sama."

"Where's Kagome?" Shippo asked. He glanced around the area and then back at Miroku. "I don't see her around. Usually she's on Inuyasha's back."

"Well you see, Kikyo-sama and Kagome-sama are kidnapped. I think."

"WHAT???" He leaped off the houshi's shoulders and clambered up on the hanyou's. He made a brave attempt to punish Inuyasha by pulling his ears. "Inuyasha, how could you? You two-timed and let Kagome get kidnapped! And then the woman you were two-timing with got kidnapped too! You're a disgrace!"

Inuyasha reached up to the top of his head and pulled him down, until he was facing Inuyasha. His eyes were burning with anger, his claws almost hurting him, pinching his skin, and his other hand in a fist. His mouth was in some sort of mad smirk and as he spoke, his voice became raspy.

"You know what? I wasn't two-timing all right? What I do is none of your business. And Kagome just went on a walk, okay???"

"Then where is she, _Inuyasha_???" he asked, emphasizing on his name.

"I don't know!!!" He flung him to the ground and began to head off out of the village. Miroku moaned as he picked up Shippo and followed Inuyasha. The rest struggled to catch up.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Kikyo! Are you all right? You look really tired," Kagome said, her voice full of concern.

The miko had used her remaining energy to construct a barrier that would prevent Moryomaru from taking the Shikon no Tama while they stalled time for Inuyasha to arrive. But for two hours, Inuyasha hadn't showed up with the rest of her friends, and Kikyo was almost at her limit. Sweat beads dripped from her nose and her eyelids barely up.

"Hang in there," Kagome said. She wanted to help so badly, but considering how they were immobile, she couldn't go over there to make things better. "How long can you last?"

"Half an hour. That's about as far as I can go. Has the sun rose yet?"

Kagome tried to sneak a peek beyond the barrier, but Moryomaru was purposely sleeping in front of the cave, so she couldn't really tell. But they were lucky. The sun... was making an early rise this morning. In Harasaki's body, at least.

But containing an extra soul was a strain on her body. As soon as Kikyo went hiding in her soul, Harasaki's souls began flying out. One, then two, then three, until they kept coming out. The barrier faded, as Kagome tried to calm the princess down.

"K-Kikyo-sama... is she safe?" she struggled to ask, trying to contain her own souls.

"She's inside of you right now. But, Harasaki-san, do you have a way to get us out of this place?" Kagome watched another soul forced itself out of the cave.

"One. But I'm not sure it'll work."

"Anything is fine! You'll die if we don't do something!"

"But... I'm tired... I can't... channel any more..."

"Can't I give you my spiritual power or something?" She heard the sound of Moryomaru's feet. He was coming. "Please Harasaki-hime, can you try at least once?"

Harasaki went to work. She slowed down her breathing, and scanned the nearby area for violent ghosts. She got responses immediately and at once, the cave began to shake. Hundreds of vengeful ghosts came in, big and small, children and adults. They crashed the ground, toyed with Moryomaru's mind, and eventually shook the place so hard that Harasaki and Kagome were set free.

As soon as they landed and Kagome got a hold of Harasaki's body, Inuyasha arrived. He quickly ran inside to fetch the two, evacuated safely out of the cave and made a large leap as he caught onto the balloon Shippo had transformed. Then they quickly made way down to earth.

~O~O~O~O~O~

By the time they reached the pithy dirt of the forest floor, Harasaki's time had run out. The last of her souls made the way out of the body as Harasaki's eyes closed. When the reopened, her face, her voice, and her walnut colored eyes were Kikyo's now.

Inuyasha looked extremely relieved that Kagome was fine but when he saw Kikyo, he was so happy he stayed quiet. Kagome knew he wanted just a bit of time alone with her so she stood up awkwardly, and walked past him, trying to hold in her tears. Maybe it was best for him. Maybe it wasn't.

"K...Kikyo... you're alive..." He sat down next to her and watched her glance longingly in his eyes.

"Yes, I'm quite alive but... Harasaki is no longer. I should've tried to escape her grasp but... her channeling power is great. She's... gone now, though."

"She said she had some illness and you saved her life."

"Oh... she did. I gave her some herbs I held onto and each day she grew stronger. But she was so intent on helping me, I gave her two choices. It seems she did both. And gave her life in return. At least... she's free to laugh with her father now."

"Kikyo..."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Sitting down at the ring of fire in the middle, her arms holding her knees together, Kagome waited patiently for Inuyasha to return from his chat with Kikyo. But she knew it would take a long time before he could part with her, probably the whole night. She sighed. She shook her head at the fish that Sango offered her.

Suddenly, Inuyasha came back. His face was of regret, as if he had to leave Kikyo's side for a reluctant reason but as he sat down, he pretended as if nothing happened. Kagome looked around before joining in his fake act and realized that Kohaku was gone.

"Kikyo-sama."

Raising her head, smelling the smoke of fire, she saw not a flame but a boy, 11 years of age. His face was covered in dirt and he wore green and black armor. In his left hand was a chain scythe, the metal links drooping to the floor. His eyes were of determination.

"You are..." Kikyo started, not knowing what to say.

"Kohaku, _des_," he replied politely. "I have a request."

He approached her, kneeling just five inches away from her and bowed. "Will you use the Shikon no Kakera in my neck to end it all? To kill Naraku and purify the Shikon no Tama?"


	44. Episode 44: Memories

Episode 51: The Village of Calamity

After a while of hiking and pacing up and down serpentine roads of the rocky mountain, they came across a very quiet, and beautiful village. Surrounded by purity, it was the first time the group was really relaxed. Children were running around in circles, playing ball. The villagers were nice and kind, even toward Inuyasha.

They welcomed them and fed them good food. They even said that they could rest at the inn for free. But even this abnormal generosity was strange. When they were inside the inn room, Miroku sat down, starting a conversation concerning their doubts about the village.

"Don't you find this place weird? I mean, remember how they acted toward Inuyasha," Miroku said.

Inuyasha grunted. "You make me sound like some horrible demon from the underworld. So what if they patted my back and waved?"

"Well, most villagers would cry out in fear if they saw your ears and spiky teeth," Sango pointed out.

"You have a point," Shippo agreed.

"And they even gave Kirara and Shippo sugar canes. Those are really rare, and just to give them away like that is..." Sango sighed. "You guys get what I mean right?"

Kagome nodded. "Do you think there's something ominous here?"

His hand over Tessaiga tightened. "Yeah. Something's definitely suspicious here."

~O~O~O~O~O~

So for the next two hours they asked around. But most of the answers weren't what they expected. The village elder said that they were nice because Midoriko was born here. Inuyasha growled and asked him that's no excuse to be nice to anyone. He shrugged at him and walked away.

Then they tried the local farmers. They said that because the world was full of hardships, and to share their food with the world was their dreams and hopes. Inuyasha cried that it was baloney and ended up carrying baskets of "heavenly" food on their way back to the inn.

Finally, they gave up asking the village and sat down.

"This is hopeless. It seems that they really are peaceful. We shouldn't pry into their history," Miroku said, his tone full of despair. Inuyasha thought otherwise.

"Oh come on. Who in their right mind would give strangers food and free rooms? I'm sure they have a horrible reason to do something like this."

"Care to enlighten us?" Sango asked.

"Uh... um..." Inuyasha blushed. "I didn't think that far."

Everyone sighed at his theory as it crumbled to pieces. All of a sudden, the villagers cried out in joy. Throwing down their shovels and hats, they ran to the entrance of the village as a beautiful woman wearing a draping white kimono entered.

"Omae-sama! You've come back!" they cried.

"Omae?" Inuyasha said aloud, to no one in particular. Miroku nodded to the others as a signal to go check out it out.

The woman's hair was brown, with a few gray hairs hidden beneath the locks of her tied hair. Her eyes were full of sorrow, telling a long tale of sadness and hardships. Just like Kikyo, Inuyasha thought. There was definitely something about this village.

"Oh, we have guests?" she asked the villagers. They nodded and told her their names and their recent activities. When they came to the part about asking the villagers' history, her gentle smile was wiped away.

"Are you historians? Scholars?"

"Hardly," Inuyasha snapped. "We just find this place fishy. You got a problem with that?"

"I do," she said without hesitation. "But those who seek knowledge cannot be turned down." She gestured them to follow her down to an isolated hut where she sat down a basket of herbs she had been holding the entire time since she entered the village and asked them to come inside.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"I was the one who told the villagers to be kind to strangers," Omae confessed. She prepared some tea leaves as she heated the water over the fire. She handed cups to everyone and began to reminisce about the past. "It's to get their mind off of _it_."

"It?" everyone pondered, yelling all at once.

"A long time ago, about ten years, this place was a thriving city. Now it's been reduced to a lowly village famous for the birthplace of Midoriko and the mercenary leader, Bankotsu--"

Everyone grimaced at the thought of the band of Seven. _So this is where he was born huh? Well, he's dead now anyway._

"So everyone's being nice because they're not famous right? Pretty boring history," Inuyasha said, disappointed. But Omae wasn't finished.

"No. It's not about that. It's about the children."

Kagome swallowed, unready for the barrage of tragedies the woman was about to spill to them. "What happened?"

"They all became... paranoid."

A long silence after she said the word "paranoid". "Is that enough to scare the villagers?"

"It was. Three children had the worst cases. One of them is still alive for sure, because I visited her along the way. The other girl... I have no idea about her condition. And Bankotsu... he's dead now, isn't he?"

"He was one of the children?"

"He was the most paranoid. He killed half of the villagers in a single day and left soon after that. The next day, the villagers found all the corpses in a farmer's shed. Eventually, the other girl tried to murder my apprentice, who soon lost her memory and "spirited away"..."

_Paranoia... the mistrust in others huh?_

"What's even worse, is that after my apprentice disappeared, all the children alive in the village began to experience it as well."

"Only the children?" Kagome asked. "What about the adults?"

"No, nothing happened to them. I did purification, and all I could as a miko but, the curse won't go away."

All of the sudden, Kagome felt a shiver go down her spine. Something was watching them... laughing...

~O~O~O~O~O~

_'Stay away from me!!!'_

The cries of the children were heard every day. Each day, a girl, a boy would go insane and start doubting others. They would hurt each other, tell their parents that they wouldn't come out of their rooms, or throw the bowls of rice at them, saying it was poisoned.

'I'm scared...' she murmured, holding Nagato and the boy's hand.

'Me too,' Nagato agreed, backing away as an eleven year old boy passed by them. His hands were over his head, his mouth open letting out a high wail.

'We should run away,' he said. 'I don't want to be here anymore. It's scary.'

'We can't. They'll find us...' Nagato said.

All of a sudden, the boy let go. He began heading to his house, his head down, his arms to his side. They followed him into the dark corner of the hut. He pulled out something shining.

'They won't, if I have this. They won't hurt us, if I have this...'

A knife... so sharp. She knew at once he was gone now. He was beginning to experience it too. She knew, because when Nagato asked if they should carry one too, he shouted a loud no. So loud...

'But we won't hurt you,' she said, her voice so lonely. It was lonely because the children outside were no longer crying or happily screaming in joy.

'You say that, but you never know,' he said. Nagato bit her lip, shrieked and ran out.

The room was so lonely...

Just the two of them...

"Sesshoumaru!!!" Mika shouted, the first name that came to her mind. She reached out and felt sweat beads dripping down her nose.

He wasn't there. He must have left while she was sleeping. But the night was still early. He'd be coming back soon. She must get some rest...

No, she couldn't. She didn't want to see that horrible nightmare again. They were so terrifying... so lonely and pitiful. A place of mistrust, somewhere she never wanted to be. But she was curious. Why was she having dreams about a boy and a girl she had never met in her life?

"In any case, I need my sleep. My... sleep..."

With a murmur so silent not even the cicadas could hear, she drifted off into the land of slumber, where another memory stirred, itching at the back of her neck.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Constantly throughout the night in the inn, Shippo couldn't sleep. For some reason, he didn't want to be near Inuyasha or even Kagome anymore. Then he realized that he was doubting his trust that he'd built over the days he'd spent with everyone.

It was the village's fault he guessed. He shook his head. "I've got to sleep. I've got to--"

Suddenly, a loud sound, somewhat like a moan from a dead frog or a human corpse rang throughout the inn. He jumped and ran over to Kagome. He whispered in her ear, "Kagome... Kagome! Wake up!"

"What is it, Shippo-chan," she asked sleepily.

"Th-there's this loud sound! I-I'm really scared..." He leaped over to Inuyasha, who was drooling in his sleep. _Probably dreaming about something perverted..._ "Inuyasha! Get up!"

"...Kikyo..." he murmured.

"Osuwari!!!" Kagome shrieked, getting to her feet, her fists balled.

"OW!!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR KAGOME???"

"HOW CAN YOU BE DREAMING ABOUT KIKYO AT THIS TIME???"

"I WASN'T DREAMING ABOUT KIKYO-- WAIT HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT I WAS DREAMING ABOUT???"

Shippo jumped over to Sango and Miroku, who were sleeping peacefully until he approached them. Miroku rubbed his left eye as he yawned. "No need to wake me up Shippo. Inuyasha was a great alarm clock."

Sango agreed by nodding her head. "I was having such a good time too. It's not everyday where the place is so still."

"I heard something loud and scary! This village is creepy! It makes me want to sleep alone but... AHH!!!" He leaped into Sango's arms and buried his face in her clothing. "Can we leave yet?"

"So, Inuyasha lulled himself to sleep by dreaming about Kikyo-sama? How romantic," Miroku teased, as if insulting Inuyasha would make him alert.

Inuyasha blushed. "Shut up. I wasn't dreaming about her at all."

Shippo turned and squinted his eyes at the hanyou. "So why were you drooling and saying "Kikyo" as if you were doing something perverted?"

He threw a fist into Shippo's face before he could say anything else. "So what? Everyone drools!"

Everyone glanced the other way. "Hmm...?"

"Really, you guys have to be picking on me all the time--"

Miroku held a finger to silence Inuyasha. "You hear that, Kagome-sama?"

Kagome nodded. "It's a bit quiet, but it's loud enough."

Inuyasha stood up and looked around the room. He sniffed the futons and slid open the doors. But he couldn't hear a thing. "I can't hear anything."

"I can hear it loud as day!" Shippo cried. "It's like a toad, right?"

Miroku nodded. "Remember what that miko-sama said? Something about the children only being affected? It seems that the younger you are, the more prone you are to this "curse"."

The kitsune looked over to Inuyasha and chuckled. "Inuyasha's old."

"HEY!"

Kagome held her chin with her right hand. "Maybe Inuyasha can't hear it because he's a hanyou. I mean, Shippo is a full demon, and all the children that have been affected are fully human right?"

"That could be possible," Sango said. "In any case, I think we should get down there--"

Without any warning or notice, the toad sound stopped ringing in everybody's ears and a crashing noise replaced it. Screams from wives were heard below as they raced down the inn to the outside world. When they were outside, they were surprised at what they saw.

A man, almost in his middle age was running out of his hut, which was in the center of the village. He was half-naked, with his top off. He was screaming about something about his wife wanting to hurt him. Before he could leave the village though, eight headstrong farmers stood before him with shovels. Omae was in the middle, her face stern, but gentle enough not to scare away a child.

"What is the matter, dear sir?" she asked in a soft voice. But it wouldn't calm the frenzied man down.

"S-She—my wife wants to kill me! She raised her knife and held it toward me! She's a demon!!!" he explained. A woman almost his age came rushing out of the hut.

"I was just cutting up some fish for you to eat tomorrow," she said, but the man was clearly standing by his own opinion.

"Don't lie to me!" he barked, and ran over to her, his arms outstretched and caught her neck. He began to strangle her, his wife trying to remove his arms that had become so strong all of a sudden. Omae struggled to get over to his side and help the woman regain her ability to breathe the air, but the man was so intent on killing his wife now.

In the end, Sango had to break the man's two wrists with a fling of Hiraikotsu. It flew over to his side, hitting his hands so hard that he let go and plummeted to the floor. He kicked away everyone and tried to run away, but ropes were thrown onto him, binding him to the floor.

"It affected him too," Inuyasha observed, silently praying to himself that the man would get better. He looked over to Kagome, who agreed.

"We need to get to the bottom of this," Kagome said, removing her bow from her shoulders.


	45. Episode 45

Episode 52: The Red Child

In the field of sakura blossoms and violet flowers that adorned the skies and floor, Mika stood there, bare but warm as if a flame was being kindled beside her. There was a crying child before her. She was crying very loudly, then softly, and then loud again. Like a star that grows big and small, twinkling, fooling the human eyes.

The girl wore a red kimono, a bright red, like blood. Her hands were held to her face, holding back the tears that flowed out endlessly like a river of crimes. When Mika decided to approach her, she felt a smirk widen on the girl's face. A little laughter surrounded her, a haunting, childish laughter.

_"Won't you play with me, onee-san,"_ she asked, her face facing her. But she didn't even have one; it was just blank, no mouth, no eyes, no nose and no ears.

She backed away. "W-who are you?"

The girl giggled. "_I'm Outa. And I like to play tag._ "

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Neh, do you think Naraku's behind this?" Sango asked, addressing her question to Inuyasha, since Miroku and Kagome were busy inspecting the crazy man.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Naraku has better things to do than watch fragile humans go paranoid. I think he's got nothing to do with this."

At this time, Kagome came pacing out, with Miroku right behind her. "Why don't we ask Omae-sama for some more information? There must be something even worse that happened before the paranoid children," she suggested.

Everyone agreed. Miroku said, "That seems to be the best choice for now."

Omae, who had been sitting in her hut for some time was not shocked to see they come inside again. Instead, she said she'd been expecting them. "You want to know what happened before the three children, correct?"

"That's right. Considering the situation, there should be a powerful spirit behind all this. Perhaps a violent ghost?" Miroku looked at the miko. "A child, possibly, since it seems to affect only the children before."

"It was nineteen years ago. I'm about twenty-five, so I was six. Paranoia hadn't settled in yet, and our village was barely beginning its life. If I look back really hard, there is only one child that stood out. Or two, you could say." Omae sipped a cup of tea before going on.

"They were brother and sister, Outa and Shogo. Outa was the girl who hid behind her older twin brother Shogo, and they were always together. Always. Never a day where they would go farther than four inches from each other. One day, Shogo finally left her side. It was only for a few minutes, but Outa couldn't bear it. When Shogo came back into the house, Outa had attempted to hang herself. Luckily, he was just in time to get her off of the noose.

"After that, he never left her. Ever again. But he had to," she said, taking a breather and letting the sadness spread through the hut.

"What happened?" Kagome asked, ready for the big problem.

"Shogo was killed... by one of the three children. It was just after he turned sixteen. He was the first victim… to the paranoia situation."

"You mean he was still alive ten years ago?" Kagome yelled, surprised.

"Yes... Outa was terribly upset. She tried to suicide fifteen times but all of them ended in failure. She starved herself. She locked herself in her room all day, without coming back outside. Then it came. Her desire for revenge. But it was too late. The child who had murdered her brother had left already."

Inuyasha and the rest had to choke back on their tears. Revenge... it was such a satisfying thought. When Inuyasha found who had tore apart Kikyo and his dreams and hopes for each other, the thought of him laying dead before him was so beautiful. Sango thought the same too.

"Outa-san... did she kill herself after that?" Kagome pondered. She glanced at Omae, whose face was sorrowful and lonely. Then she realized something; maybe Omae and Outa were friends...

_It must be hard... telling us all these things. I'm sure... it's breaking her heart..._

"It wasn't Outa's fault... she was just unhappy. I don't blame the child either... it wasn't him." The cup she held in her hands began to shatter. Tears tumbled clumsily to the mattress. "It was me... I..." She looked out at the entrance of the hut, recalling the scene in her mind.

"She was sad so I called her to my place. I asked her if there was anything wrong and she told me there was nothing, but I persisted. Eventually, she got mad and she stormed off. The next day, I found her body in the river..." Then it came. The barrage of guilt that wasn't supposed to belong to her. All the tears and everything she held to herself came falling out. As if she were a five year old, who had broken a vase and was crying away all that was about to happen in a few moments.

"Omae-sama," Miroku whispered. "I'm sorry you had to tell us all this."

She was about to tell him it was fine when Inuyasha stood up. The smell of blood was passing by his nostrils. "Here the murderer comes."

"What?" Kagome followed his action. "You mean the ghost of Outa-san?"

"Probably, but I've never smelled such a blood thirsty ghost. We have to be careful, if we don't want to get killed ourselves."

Seeing that even the reckless Inuyasha was being wary, everyone else stuck together closer, their backs touching against each other. They looked around the hut, their feet ready to feel any motion under the grit below the hut's floor. But other than the scent of blood, and the feeling that you were being watched, the world was at peace.

"Maybe we have to step outside," Shippo suggested.

"Or maybe it's looking for a new victim, after all these years. It's hard to think by hanging yourself your revenge is carried away. She's probably trying to worsen the paranoia so that everyone in the end dies because she hates this place."

"That's a horrible reason," Sango said, as everyone began to near the door.

"Horrible enough for her," Miroku said.

But after waiting several seconds, nothing happened. Inuyasha stood back from the brown hut flap, and looked around at everybody. Glances of clueless innocence returned back at him. Then he frowned and turned to Omae. "How old was the girl when she killed herself?"

"She was eleven," Omae replied. Inuyasha gritted his teeth.

"She's still a little brat then, isn't she? All right, come out wherever you are Outa," he said.

Miroku and Sango looked at each other in confusion. Whom was he talking to? But before they could figure it out, Kagome began to cackle. She smiled widely at everyone and asked in a childish voice to Sango, "Onee-san, won't you play with me?" She giggled some more.

"Kagome-chan?" Sango questioned confusedly, her hand clutching the grip of Hiraikotsu.

"I love to play tag," she added, reaching out with a cold hand. As soon as her hand touched Sango, Kagome fell unconscious to the floor.

"Sango?" Shippo asked; quivering all over his body as Sango gawked at him with lifeless eyes. She laughed and ran past Miroku and Inuyasha, out of the hut and into the darkness. Before they could follow her however, Sango was already gone, leaving them with a few words.

"Can you catch me?"

"Darn it, that's why I hate brats," Inuyasha complained as he smelled around the place for Sango's familiar scent. But the place was beginning to stink of blood, for real this time. "Miroku, do you smell it too?"

"Yes, I smell it as clear as day. I'm starting to feel worried about the villagers."

_The villagers huh?_ Miroku had a point. The malevolent ghost was strong enough to make people paranoid and to possess them on top of that. And now, the spirit was running off with Sango's body, to do who knows what. Spinning behind him, he ordered Shippo to watch over Kagome and took off in the direction Sango had gone off to, leaving Miroku behind, as usual.

"Sango! Where the heck are you?" he cried, running randomly this way, then that way, knowing no bounds. As he ran and made his call several times, he would also stop and listen to the sounds around him, just in case he heard a cry. But the darkness was quiet and the annoying cackle of the girl was no where to be heard.

Finally, the hanyou got tired of running and halted in his tracks for a few moments. If only Kagome was the one needed rescuing… maybe he could've concentrated. But Sango… Sango could take care of herself and didn't need much saving. He wasn't used to saving her.

Then he realized there was also the problem of forcing the spirit out of the body. He was also aware that if she touched him with her hands, he could become the next victim. He needed to be alert. He took out Tessaiga from its sheath and yelled out again, when he heard footsteps.

They weren't the sound of sandals, which meant it wasn't Sango, because she was wearing her casual kimono and sandals at this time. They were the noises of a pair of boots, and they were quite loud. He turned to his right and headed that way, wondering what kind of person was awaiting him there.

All of a sudden, it became clear. The scent of the person who wore the boots. It was the smell of a rotten corpse, of dirt by the name of Sango's brother, Kohaku. He hurried toward the scene, sprinting now. If Kohaku was there, Sango's will might have shattered the ghost's control over her body… or maybe the for the worst. If it was the other way, Sango, or the ghost as he should call it would kill Kohaku mercilessly. He was a child too, after all and a boy. He racked his brains for the age of the boy that had murdered Outa's brother. He couldn't remember.

When he reached a clearing, it seemed that his assumptions were correct. But unluckily, it was going for the bad thing. Even with Kohaku's skills, the unnatural spiritual power that the ghost was giving Sango was making him huff and puff with exhaustion. Sango was swinging the katana she hid in her kimono at him in a rage and quite expertly, shockingly.

Kohaku blocked another blow with the chain of his scythe then tried to throw it over the hilt of her blade, but she was fast. She laughed and jumped at him, flinging the sword aside and grabbing his wrist. She raised her left hand, another hidden blade ripping through the kimono sleeve. As she was about to bring it down, Inuyasha cast the Kaze no Kizu on instinct and immediately regretted it.

"Sango!" he cried out, but she was unharmed, for the ghost's power had surrounded her, protecting her body. He sighed in relief and then smirked at the spirit.

"You stupid ghost, stop playing games and fight me for real!" He held his Tessaiga before him and hardened his scowl.

Sango merely grinned. She licked her lips and then charged at him. She hacked at him with the hidden blade and then kicked his legs. Too slow for her, Inuyasha was knocked to the floor in seconds. She was a tough one all right, without the Shikon no Kakera and the ghost. He threw aside the Tessaiga and punched Sango's stomach, hard enough for her to stumble backwards.

"Y-You'd hit your own comrade?" Sango asked, her voice overlapping with the dead corpse Outa's.

Inuyasha cracked his knuckles and watched as Sango held her stomach in pain and struggled to get back to her senses. As long as she didn't do anything to rash, he shouldn't have to hurt her physically that bad. He began to think of ways of how to get her unconscious when all of a sudden, Kohaku charged at Inuyasha.

"What the—Kohaku what are you doing?"

He heard a thud behind him as he was knocked against a tree. He glanced over to Sango, who was just a body now, for Outa had left and possessed Kohaku's. Her arms were outstretched as if someone had thrown her five feet across the floor. Her head was facedown, her hair covered in dirt. He grimaced. If he didn't get rid of the ghost soon, his entire team would end up like that.

He pushed back against Kohaku and watched as he ogled at him with eyes that reminded him when he was working under Naraku like a lifeless puppet. The small taijiya held up the scythe and ran toward him again hacking like crazy, and using underhanded tricks like kicking his knees and punching him.

_Since when were ghosts so powerful???_ he thought bitterly, just as he dodged a blow to his face. The scythe missed, but managed to make a cut appear on his cheek. Blood squirted out like a fountain and stopped after three seconds. Then Lady Luck shined on his path.

"Inuyasha!"

Running into the clearing was the monk Miroku, who had his fudas prepared and ready to aim. He looked over to Sango with a worried look and then to Kohaku. After deducing the situation, he hurried to Inuyasha's side and threw the fudas at his body. One landed squarely on his forehead, while the rest glued onto his feet and arms.

The spirit left of course, but it was very unwilling. Kohaku wailed in agony, his scythe dropping onto his floor, while his hands were over his head, gripping his hairs. He fell onto his knees, cursing Inuyasha, Miroku, Kagome, and Sango all the while. Then when the ghost was about to leave, the dead miko came into the scene.

Kikyo made her way over to Kohaku, where she knelt down and wrapped her arms around him. But she wasn't addressing him when she spoke. She was talking to Outa, in a soft, gentle voice that was suitable for speaking with children. However, no matter what she said, the ghost insisted on being callous.

"What is your name, child?" she asked, her eyes not moving from the eyes of Outa, who were looking out of Kohaku's.

She didn't answer until a minute passed. "Are you going to exorcise me?"

"No, I'm not going to exorcise you. I just want to know what's been hurting you."

"You want to kill me. Everyone does. I just want to play." Then she smiled mischievously. "Won't you play with me, onee-san?"

"Outa, someone close to you was killed, weren't they?"

Outa's eyes grew wide. Using Kohaku's body as her own, she wrapped her hands over Kikyo's and began shouting unnecessarily in fear. "Nobody was killed!"

"You cannot deny the facts. And killing me will not make it go away. Won't you tell me? Or will you have me guess?"

"Nobody… nobody!!!" she persisted, making the trees and the ground tremble. Then Kohaku's eyes closed, his hands became weak, and his body collapsing into her lap. The ghost had left for another victim.

At first, no one wanted to move. What if Kikyo, considering her fragile body, was possessed? If you combined her powers with the ghost wouldn't it be a catastrophe? But eventually, Inuyasha gathered enough courage to ask her, "Which one are you?"

"Which one do you think I am?" Kikyo answered, her voice still the same. Her hand stroked Kohaku's bangs as she stood up, slowly bringing the body of Kohaku's to his feet. "In any case, you should hurry back to the village. You know very well who she is going for this time." And with that, she asked Miroku to help Sango and Kohaku to a safer location where she could help the recover from their current states.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha felt his heart skip a beat as he raced back to the cursed village. To tell you the truth, he wanted to stay where he was and not move at all, but he knew that person needed him right now. Everybody did. There was no time to be a scared puppy hiding in the corner.

The trees whizzed by like blurred images, but he could still see where he was going. In a few minutes, even in the darkness, he found the flickering dim lights of the village. He made his way through unsystematic rocks placed there to trip him and finally reached Omae's hut. But someone was already standing there.

Kagome.


	46. Episode 46

Episode 53: The Red Child II

Standing there in the darkness, her silhouette darker than the night itself was Kagome. In her hand was her short bow while her left shoulder carried her quiver. Her hair fluttered in the breezes like a wet towel on a laundry line while her eyes gave off an awkward golden light. Shippo wasn't next to her though, even though he was supposed to be watching over her.

Inuyasha gulped. Was he too late? _I wonder where's Shippo,_ he thought worriedly as Kagome raised her hands to her face. She opened her mouth to speak, the suspense stabbing Inuyasha in the back every second.

"Inuyasha, what are you standing there for? Get over here," she said, her voice as normal as normal could be. He sighed a breath of relief as he made his way over to her side.

"Kagome," he greeted her and looked around again. "Where is he?"

"You mean Shippo? I don't know," she said.

Inuyasha scowled and stared intently at her. Somewhere in those six words, there was something that Kagome shouldn't have said. He shrugged. She was probably feeling dizzy.

"Miroku is with Sango and Kohaku right now. We should be getting there," he continued kneeling down. But Kagome just stood there, when she was supposed be getting on his back so that they could travel faster. She seemed to space out a lot too. The ghost's soul must have had a large impact on even her body.

"I think I should walk a little," she whispered, her steps slow and small as she walked forward. He stood back up and nodded.

It was for a few minutes when all of a sudden Kagome collapsed. She fell to her knees, huffing and puffing, her hands over her head, and her mouth open as if she were about to wail. Inuyasha quickly ran over and tried to help her back up, but Kagome's arms were weak as they wrapped around him. _Kagome...?_

A trap. That was all he needed to know the knock her away and draw out Tessaiga. He glanced at her menacingly and sneered as she rose, with a shocked expression. "Your acting sucks, you know,"

Kagome continued to look at him surprised until Inuyasha yelled out Outa's name. Her eyes became dull and she stood up. The grin emerged onto Kagome's oval face, maker her look maniac and evil. "Heh heh, you came to late boy. This girl's body is mine now," she said, her hand over her stomach. Then came her cackle.

"What in the world is so funny to you???" he demanded, throwing his fist as she laughed and giggled mentally. She continued to laugh until she paused in her giggling to whisper her confession, and then, at the last moment, her laugh became louder than ever.

The trees shook as the ghost's power escalated to a godly level. The houses began to fall over each other as people ran in and out of their houses, oblivious to the possessed body of Kagome's. Even Inuyasha began to tremble, his knees knocking against each other. The ghost really was insane.

"I KILLED HIM! I KILLED MY BROTHER AND EVERYBODY ELSE! IT WAS SO SATISFYING, JUST HEARING THEIR LITTLE CRIES! THEY WERE SO STUPID, BEGGING FOR MERCY! HUMANS ARE JUST SO FRAGILE! YOU ENTER THEIR BODY AND EVERYONE FREAKS OUT?!? WHAT A JOKE!!!"

_Flashback—_  
_'S-She—my wife wants to kill me! She raised her knife and held it toward me! She's a demon!!!' he explained. A woman almost his age came rushing out of the hut._

'I was just cutting up some fish for you to eat tomorrow,' she said, but the man was clearly standing by his own opinion.

'Don't lie to me!'

"The... villagers... you were the one who possessed all of them, didn't you?" Inuyasha grimaced at her crimes and repeated his deduction. But the girl was too busy laughing to hear him. Finally, she stopped laughing and dropped Kagome's bow. She pulled out a knife, the gleam disappearing as she turned it around, showing a splatter of blood.

Inuyasha's eyes widened as he spun around. _Shippo!_

"I told you, you were too late," she said, charging toward him at great speed. He blocked attack with Tessaiga but she pressed so hard, the blade made a ringing sound. She was breaking it!

"Kagome! Snap out of it!" he cried, pushing away a hand that tried to take his head. "Kagome!"

"She's not coming back anytime soon," she reminded him. A glint of evil flashed in her eye. "You'll have to kill her with your own hands. Hee hee... HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Crazy brat," he commented, smelling the blood on her knife. It not only belonged to Shippo but that Omae priestess too. He needed to get Kagome off his trail. But then he realized something. He thought back to the times where Sango and Kagome were possessed. They were all possessed in a short period of time. That meant the ghost couldn't stay in the body for long. Especially with Kagome's huge soul taking up most the place in the body, the ghost should be having a hard time.

But there needed to be something to trigger Kagome's will. Just like Sango's, but how? He racked his brains and found nothing, for dodging Outa's wild blows were hard enough. Then he got it.

Running in the opposite direction, he raced back into Omae's hut. Kagome, who was actually Outa in this moment was following slow as a snail, probably savoring his cowardly act. But he wasn't in her hut for hiding. As soon as he arrived in the bloody hut, he hurried and searched the place for fudas; because Omae was a priestess right?

The blood was distracting, he had to admit. Shippo was on the floor, knocked out and there was only a small cut on his face luckily. But Omae on the other hand was breathing hard. She had been slashed at three times, and there were strangling marks on her neck. Inuyasha was surprised they were alive.

_Thud._ The sound of Kagome's weird shoes, which were loafers, was comforting and scary at the same time. He spun around, his hand clasped around a bag of powder that was said to scare away spirits while his other was holding Tessaiga. The powder was the only he could find, and it was better than nothing was, he supposed.

"All right, you evil little maniac, are you ready to eat some dirt?"

"Hmmph, we'll see about that!" She ran toward him yelling a war cry, her mouth open just the way he wanted it.

"_Kurai_!!!" He stuffed the bag into Kagome's mouth, cloth and all and pushed her away. Choking, the spirit immediately felt the effects. The knife fell to the floor as Kagome fought for the control of her body.

"_YADA! WATASHI GA... MADA... AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!_"

Like a firework on July the Fourth in America, the spirit exited Kagome's body. She was a blue-ish like being, having no face, no legs, only the outline of what she should have been. Then all of a sudden, the ghost aimed a look of malice toward him.

"I'll kill all of you! Every one of you, I'll rip your arms off and twist your little stupid dog head--"

Out of nowhere, a Hama no Ya arrow shot by Kikyo struck the girl. She gasped, and all of a sudden, her features were seen. Her round face was stained with tears, just as she'd been when she'd killed herself. The red kimono she had worn to return to the earth as a powerful yurei. The sandals she wore were seen too, and her short black hair was flitting as she turned around toward Kikyo, who entered the hut.

"O...Onee-san... I just..."

Kikyo knelt down beside the spirit, who tried to hug her but she had no physical body, so the tears that fell onto the mat went through the ground and her hands through her face. And she seemed to be surprised too.

"You just wanted to play, right?"

The spirit nodded; her back on the hut's floor. Her eyes were brimming with tears that existed fifteen years ago. "My brother told me not to, but I still did anyway. I was playing in the deep river and my brother was being annoying, so I pushed him into the water... then I blamed the boy..."

By this time, Omae had woken. Inuyasha helped her sit up as Shippo regained consciousness. Everyone, including Kagome who had felt Kikyo's presence had awoken as well and was now listening to the girl's confession.

"That day, when my brother left me, I got really mad. I thought he didn't love me anymore. But when he was dead, I felt really lonely. I just thought it was unfair that everyone had a brother and I didn't. I just wanted to play with my brother again!"

Kikyo closed her eyes. "Why don't you go play with him then? He's always there waiting for you. See? He's not mad. He still loves you."

Outa's tears suddenly became tears of joy. "Nii-san!" she cried, sitting up and running through Kikyo. She ran out of the hut, laughing, and then when everyone looked out to the sky, everyone saw her jumping into the sky, her hand clutching the hand of her brother.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"So the poor child had killed her own brother, became a lonely spirit and just ended up like this, didn't she?" Miroku asked, summarizing what Inuyasha had told him. The hanyou nodded.

"I feel really bad for her," Sango said. "Even though what she did to us, what she went through was..."

There was no need to say it. They all knew that the girl should have a day of mourning just for her. After all, if you killed your own brother and nobody knew, wouldn't you be sad too?

"What about Kohaku?" Inuyasha asked.

"He left with Kikyo-sama," Miroku explained. He then looked over to Sango, whose face was torn in a depressing state. She was missing Kohaku greatly and was troubled by the fact that even though she was not the one, her own body was trying to kill him. It was much for her to bear on her already heavy shoulders.

"Sango, you're worried about him, aren't you? He'll be fine; I mean he's with Kikyo-sama."

"I'm not worried about that, it's just that, why would he go with her and not us? If he regained his memories..." Sango wrapped her arms around her knees and put her head on her legs. "What if Kikyo uses the Kakera in his neck? He'll be dead then..."

Kagome felt goose bumps appear on her arms. Sango had a point. Kikyo would do something like that for sure. But even she would know what kind of position Kohaku was in. By now, even the miko who had changed because of her death wouldn't do something so cruel as to take away a sister's sibling's life, would she? After all, she was an older sister too, of Kaede...

~O~O~O~O~O~

_'If you weren't here............. still would've been next to me!'_

What was his name... it was on the tip of her tongue.

'It's all your fault!' The girl reached out and tried to strangle her.

What was his name?

'Nagato stop it! You'll kill Mika!' the villagers cried. Omae was in the background, just standing there idly in shock, watching the girl try to commit murder. Some villagers were gathered around as well, but they seemed to not worry at all.

'I don't care! She can die! I want her to feel what I'm feeling!'

Her hands were burning on her itching neck. She couldn't breathe, she was thirsty and her head was throbbing. Why? She searched for the answer as she struggled to break free of the girl's grip. She was drinking soup before... yes the soup! She had poisoned it; that was for sure!

'Why won't you die???' The girl knelt down and picked up a rock. She brought it down to her skull, the fresh blood trickling down her cheek. Why wasn't anyone helping?

Beside her the ghost persisted in her annoying question. She didn't care and ignored the ghost. 'Onee-san, play with me, play with me!'

Soon, before she knew it, she blackened out completely.

Sitting up, Mika gave up on sleeping and looked up the night sky. What were these memories was she reliving? Was it her past life?

Somewhat like a cramp was hurting her right now. She stroked her stomach and stood up gradually, wondering if the baby was kicking her or something. The usual sounds of the hammer stopped. She listened harder. No, it was only her.

Then all of a sudden she heard footsteps. Four of them in fact. One of them was in front of her while the other pair was behind her. Who were they? She panicked and was about to make a break for it when Totosai's voice rang through the empty area.

"I've finished! The Tenesiga's ready now!"


	47. Episode 47

Episode 54: Happy Happy Me

It was almost the rise of dawn when Totosai announced that his masterpiece was once again renewed. Mika was surprised to hear two pairs of footsteps, belonging to the approaching Totosai; however, she couldn't identify the other. It was when they both approached her that she found out who those foots belonged to. She had to admit though, having a daiyoukai stand behind you was terrifying.

"It better be worth more than these three days," Sesshoumaru hissed impatiently. Even without the help of the sun, Mika could see the shape of his right claws; sharp and clutched into a fist. He was really mad, it seemed.

"What do you mean by that? A real masterpiece needs those three days. Besides, why can't you act mature for once and not complain when the time comes? Sheesh, you two brothers are too alike. You do realize materials don't come cheap and free and that this sword IS free???"

Nevertheless, Sesshoumaru was acceptant of the sword enough not to kill Totosai. He snatched it and felt the pulses of the sword stop in his hand. Strangely though and surely, Totosai drenched it into water, freezing cold water, but the hilt of the sword was warm. It was burning hot, but his hands were strong enough for it not to receive burns. What did it mean?

"What's wrong Sesshoumaru?" Mika asked curiously, standing up and taking a peek over at the sword.

His silence gave her cue to stop talking and ignore his weird behavior. She shrugged and was about to follow him away into the forest when Totosai asked for the sword he had given her. She was about to kneel down and reach for the sword she placed behind a rock when he shouted for her to halt.

"What, what? You're scaring me old man!" she whined.

"Don't touch it with your bare hands!"

She stood back up, her hands on her hips. "Why not?"

"I don't want you going mad and killing everybody like you did to those dragons. Use this cloth." He pulled out a soggy rag that he probably used to polish Tenesiga and handed it to her. She glanced at it with disgust as she wrapped it around the hilt and handed to him. As soon as he touched it however, he felt something that he was dreading for.

The blade was warm. But not warm like homely warm. It was a hating kind of warm, as if the sword was burning off the never-ending fuels of hatred. It was glowing with a dark aura, still thirsting for blood. And the funny part was that the blade was heavier than before. He remembered his calculations perfectly. He had added exactly 4 pounds of metal, compressed and reheated with the hottest fires he could stroke. But the blade weighed 5 pounds now. He shook his head. No, he was just probably out of shape.

He hurried and handed it back to her, pushing away his worries. But before he did he made sure to tie the cloth around the blade expertly so that she would not have to touch it physically.

As they left Totosai, Mika began to get eager. In amidst of all the fighting and crazy events, she hadn't had time to blush in awe. She squealed and looked at Sesshoumaru admiringly. Now that everything was settled, she could stare at him and annoy him as much as she wanted too. And now that she had a sword all she had to touch it and he'd be tamer than a Shih Tzu puppy! She cackled in glee.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Sesshoumaru murmured. Mika blushed in embarrassment. Was she speaking aloud? Eh oh.

She quickly shot a look at an irritated Sesshoumaru. It seems that just being there she could just get him annoyed anyway. But there was something else. He raised his hand and began cracking his knuckles—wait he was going to kill her?

"No, wait Sesshoumaru! I was joking! I didn't mean it! Please don't kill me!" She clasped her hands together and pleaded. "Do it for the sake of our child?"

He grudgingly stared at her only. She shivered.

"I did NOT get you PREGNANT. That IS FINAL. If you utter another word about _our_ child, I'll make sure your head is not the only thing missing!!!" He spun around and held his hand over his sword, doing his best to contain his composure, but she was so irritating!!! Like a flea that won't stop biting you even though you used insect repellent! Like a fly that's going this way and that way when you're trying to enjoy lunch!

"Oh don't worry. It's just the pre-stress. Don't worry. When you really become the father you're supposed to be, it'll all go away—" she said, walking over to his side, his height towering over her and put a reassuring hand over his shoulder, "—right?"

Only a handful of menacing silence was his reply. As usual. Then all of a sudden, a moo from a cow came from behind. They turned around and found that Totosai was "following" them.

"What do you want, Totosai," Sesshoumaru snapped.

The old sword smith held his hammer in a queer way and began to scratch his back. "Actually, I was kind of bored and decided to stalk you. You two are an interesting couple I must say. Just as interesting as your brother and his women. But I'm afraid you won't be able to match him. I mean, all you've got is a little girl and a teenager pregnant unwillingly… and Inuyasha on the other hand has two women chasing after him while another one sits by him everyday—"

"Um, Totosai-san?" Mika began, but the man was intent on babbling away.

"What's with your eyes anyway? You're a male and yet you have eye shadow and feminine eyes! Plus, what are those lines on your face mean? And sometimes, you make me wonder if you changed your gender or something—"

"Totosai," Mika repeated in a harsher tone. But he kept on going.

"I have to give you a ten for your outfit because Inuyasha looks like some hobo but seriously, your pants are too balloon like and—"

Of course, any person who was familiar with Sesshoumaru's personality and attitude would know that he was standing there, with a very, very unpleasant scowl on his face. They would know that he would be cracking his knuckles and would be glaring at Totosai in a very murderous way. They would also know that he was on the verge of strangling Totosai to death until Mika managed to pull him away.

"You can't kill me! I created Tenesiga and Tessaiga! I die no sword! Simple as that! Why can't you get that you simpleton???" Totosai said, as his air tube became tighter. Sesshoumaru didn't stop in his pressure.

"I always expected Inu no Taisho's sons were respectable and handsome like him but you two are the most disgraceful, most ugly I've ever seen. In fact—"

By this time, Sesshoumaru let go of Totosai and unsheathed Tenesiga. "Let's test this sword," he said, somewhat sadistically.

The old man seemed to not understand or hear Mika's warnings and continued to insult the poor daiyoukai lord. So Mika had to take action and got angry. And when she gets angry, people who know _her_ very well would know she would receive some super human strength. They would witness poor Sesshoumaru being dragged away like some dog and Totosai being bonked on the head with Mika's new sword.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Actually," Totosai explained as soon as everyone settled down for a cozy lunch beside a rapid river, "I just came to see how Tenesiga would do when you test it out. And I'm kind of concerned for the little girl too. Knowing you, you'll probably kill her as soon as she starts shrieking."

Sesshoumaru gawked at Mika the entire time as Totosai spoke. She couldn't help but chuckle. Making people mad, especially he was one of her life's delights. She liked it when he couldn't hurt her one bit, no. Being a girl was so special!

"It should be the other way around," Sesshoumaru grumbled.

"You're not a woman," Totosai pointed out.

"She's the one who's killing me," he continued. Mika countered that comment with a look with her narrowing eyes.

"Oh, who's the one who got me _pregnant_ in the first place?"

"You're not pregnant," he insisted.

"Am too!"

"Quiet down, children," Totosai blurted but luckily they were too caught up in their glaring contest to beat him up.

"Stop denying that you're going to be a shriveling old man of a kid soon!" Mika shouted, standing up, almost knocking over a few sticks poking through some roasting pigeons. "Stop telling yourself that you're not going to be the father of a half-breed!"

She said it. The word he hated the most. He flashed his angriest look at her and grabbed her wrist, leaning into her face. She felt a sweat bead trickle down her cheek as his golden eyes stared into her skull. Whatever he was going to say, he meant.

"Half breed or not, I don't care. I don't care if you go falling off of a cliff or that baby inside you dies. It was your fault that you insisted on following me. And for one thing, that baby is _not_ mine!"

He flung her wrist aside violently, his eyes still focused on her as he stood back. To be honest, Mika had never felt rage such as his. He was calm, his hand was tight, but his eyes were like a burning inferno right then. They held so much hatred; that meant he really didn't like humans. His heart had changed so little.

As her wrist landed back onto her lap, she raised it up to her face. Though he did not hurt her in any way, she felt as if someone had broken her jaw or slapped her. Why did he have to be so cruel? She was just teasing. But then again, she knew that she was being foolish. Apparently, daiyoukai with a furry tail on his right shoulder didn't approve of jokes.

All of a sudden she felt not sweat beads but warm, big droplets of tears fall down her face. She should've known better than to embarrass herself. She let her hand wipe away a falling tear and stood up.

"All right. You don't care. Nobody needed to tell me!" she bawled and ran off in the opposite direction. Just as she was out of sight she cried out those three words—

"Sesshoumaru, you baka!!!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

It was always night when things like this happened. It was pretty dark then too, leaving her clueless as she paced through the forests. She was the foolish one, running off like that. She reached absentmindedly to her back for her sword and realized she had left it behind. The tears fell faster. She was so dumb, walking alone in the forests without a weapon.

Knowing Sesshoumaru from the month and two weeks she spent with him, he wouldn't come looking for her. Oh well. Who needed that jerk anyway? He was too arrogant and mean. He always thought he was some god and everything.

If she thought him that way, then why was she crying? Sticks and rocks could hurt her, but words shouldn't ever hurt her. Yet his words pierced her like the newly forged Tenesiga, only it was not saving her life but destroying it. People always did that. An outcast like her never really had any close friends after all.

She wiped her nose and continued walking on her desolate road when all of a sudden; she thought she heard distant breathing. It was slow and rhythmic, somewhat sad at the same moment. Curious, and for some reason aching for the person to be someone she knew, even if it was Sesshoumaru, she hurried in the direction of the breathing.

She did her best to not step too hard onto the floor so she would be able to hear the sound, but she also moved swiftly. Soon, she arrived at the same river they were sitting at hours ago. Of course, Sesshoumaru and Totosai had left already, leaving only scarred marks of firewood behind as souvenirs. She gave her attention to the river, whose loud water scraped against the rocks so hard made it difficult to spot the breathing and stood there for a few moments, enjoying the lonely moment.

Then she realized she wasn't really alone. As soon as she turned her head to her left, she spotted a tree and someone leaning on it. The source of the breathing, she supposed. She gathered her courage and began to head toward the tree.

When she stood before the person, she was a bit surprised, she had to admit. Who would have ever found a boy napping against a tree? He was soaked to the bone, probably from the river, his face still covered in dirt marks and bruises. His eyes were shut tight, like some baby who didn't like lullabies. His hair was black like the night, with a few occasional blue streaks from the light from the moon. It was tied somehow, but she couldn't see because the rest of his hair was pushed back behind his neck. He wore blue and white armor, pretty fancy armor too. He was sort of tan colored and by the way his hands were shaped, he looked pretty strong too.

Then Mika blushed. Privacy was shouting at her with the loudest voice possible. Watching someone sleep was really rude of course. If they sleep talked and blabbered one of their deepest secrets or did something embarrassing and you were watching, you'd make them feel bad. And yet she was watching this boy, his jaw set grimly, sleeping like pig.

All of a sudden, as if he knew someone was watching, his eyes opened. Gradually, they revealed his blue irises, tiny and strong willed. When they were blinking at her, she felt the calmness of Sesshoumaru, and yet another individual's resolve for vengeance. His eyebrows were thick, she noted, making him look fierce. But for some reason, no matter how long she stared at him, she couldn't bring herself to think he was a bad man or something.

Ah, what was she doing? _He's going to be mad,_ she scolded herself. _Say sorry already Mika!_ "Um, I'm sorry! I wasn't watching you sleep! I just heard someone breathing…"

But the boy simply got up and walked past her. Like a tree, similar to all the ones in the forest, insignificant and unneeded. She could feel his cold breath as he made his way past her.

Before she knew it, she was crying again. She fell to her knees, wobbly and weak and felt the cold breezes past by. She desperately told herself he didn't see her that's all. He was just upset that someone had disturbed him.

But his fierce eyes were focused on her. She remembered clearly. He _had_ seen her. Perfectly well. She sighed. _No use in crying in what you didn't gain,_ she said. She stood up and strengthened her will again before she returned into the dark forest, where she didn't look back once at all.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Are you sure you aren't going to look for her? I mean, she's pregnant and everything," Totosai said, scratching his head as his cow struggled to catch up on the daiyoukai's speed in the air. He was on his cloud, just zooming through, thinking deeply. It was still nighttime, the stars barely beginning their dance.

Who knows if he was thinking about Mika? But at that moment, he certainly didn't care. "Speak that word again and I'll really dissemble you into pieces."

"Stubborn as always. Believe me, you'll regret it once you find her with some guy or something."

"Do I seem that protective of humans to you?" he asked coldly.

"Considering you let that human brat with you, you know the tiny one, I suppose yes." He stopped scratching his head and began to see if he had ear wax. Sticking his pinky in his ear, he began to dig in deeper. "Let me guess; you want to get her pregnant as well too right?"

Sesshoumaru halted and turned around. His hand was grasping Tenesiga, already bringing it down onto Totosai when he brought out his hammer just in time.

"YOU REALLY WANTED TO KILL THE OLD MAN DIDN'T YOU???"

~O~O~O~O~O~

By the time it was midday, the next day, Bankotsu was dead tired. Sleeping didn't help make his appetite lessen, and drinking water was worse. Really, being alive after being dead was troublesome. He shuddered at the thought of wanting to be Skinny Bone Jones again.

Finally, he couldn't go any longer. He plummeted down next to a tree, feeling the heat waves surrounding him. It was so hot today… or was it him? Either way, he was dying of water dehydration and starvation. He threw Banryuu, his big, huge, and did I say big, sword beside him, and stared at the leaves in the tree branches. _They're so pretty…_

"All right…" He picked up a pebble from the dirty floor and jumped up. Aiming closely at the bush beside the tree, he flung it at full might. _Ka-tonk!_ It had hit something, right on mark too.

A girl, about three years younger than him if he didn't magically grow ten years older, popped out of the bush like a squirrel who's found her true love. She had nicely cut black bangs on her head, though the rest of her hair was all over the place. Her eyes were hazel-like colored, and she wore a miko outfit that was pretty tattered. The red hakama was covered in stains, telling Bankotsu that she was a messy eater. Her white kimono top was spotlessly clean, however.

"Why are you stalking me?" he asked.

She pouted and got out of the bush with leaves in her hair. She brushed off some imaginary dust off her hakama and began heading down the road. "I wasn't stalking you. We just happened to go in the same way."

Then before she could take her fifth step, she collapsed. Bankotsu sighed.

If Mika was watching him sleep, stalking him wasn't such an unbelievable action.


	48. Episode 48

Episode 55: The Torimono's Bells

"_Ne, ne, Miko-sama, ne, ne, Miko-sama, omae ga sugoi ne, doshite, doshite. Ne, ne, Houshi-sama, ne, ne, Houshi-sama, omae ga sugoi, ne, sugoi ne_!"

The children's voices overlapped in harmonic syllables, like a chorus, singing happily as they ran across the dirty road. The teachers smiled as they recited the childhood song over and over, admiring their childish voices. The entire class had pitched in to make the song five years ago on a rainy day, and on the festival days, they would all sing the song, as a ritual.

And today was an especially important day. Today was the day when Midoriko, the most powerful priestess doing her time had visited the village and rescued their lord's great, great, great grandfather from a ravenous youkai. Celebration of her name was always held on the day before the new moon. It was tradition.

Besides, it kept the village's mood serene and calm, attracting no thieves, nor youkai. It was a perfectly fine village they could say. Especially who had came to them the day before.

A miko, essentially very powerful in her own rights came to visit them, tagging along with her was her apprentice. All the men had to admit they were more exasperated at her beauty than her power, but the women and the children respected her. After all, if a miko was coming on a day of holiness, wouldn't everything would be better? They could even host a play of some sort.

Ideas of entertainment rushed through everybody then. They should take advantage of such blessing shouldn't they? So at once, the village chief asked for the help of the miko to play the part as Midoriko in a play and perform a _kagura_.

A foolish thing, the miko might think, but even her hardened experiences could not take away her gentleness and desires to help every single being in her sight. Before she could fully hesitate, she nodded her head in agreement and settled into an inn room for the next two days.

As night fell, she looked up to the sky, noting the absence of the moon. Kohaku grimaced as she saw her eyes twinkle with worry.

"What's wrong, Kikyo-sama?"

She turned her head to face him. "It's Inuyasha. Tomorrow… I think would be the day he loses his youkai powers."

"He'd be rendered a human like us, wouldn't he?" Kohaku continued for her.

"I'm afraid so. If you put that disadvantage with his attitude, he'd probably be a handful for the others." Her eyelids lowered until her chocolate colored eyes were almost covered. "It's just the feelings I have remaining. Unneeded ones anyway."

"Shouldn't we be looking for Naraku instead of helping people celebrate?"

"Actually, I would've refused if it didn't have to do with Midoriko. There's something that could be connected to her that I'm curious about. By the way, Kohaku," she added as something came to her mind, "it would be best if you could keep playing the part as my disciple. If someone knew you were a youkai taijiya and asked you to kill a youkai, alone or with me, it would be troublesome. After all, the corpses of the youkai aren't what we need right now, right?"

Kohaku nodded. He knew Kikyo was doing her best to prolong Kohaku's life, but sometimes he wished she could just take the Shikon no Kakera in his neck and finish off Naraku. Who needed a corpse who'd killed many innocent people and helped a man, so evil, alive?

Kikyo seemed to read his mind. Deciding to make him forget about it, she changed the subject. "What about your sister?"

That's right. He had a sister. Sango was her name, and she was traveling with Inuyasha as his companion. His heart ached when he saw her, because all he wanted to do was cry while hugging his only family tightly, but he couldn't, not now, not later. His only objective, his only reason to stay alive was to get rid of Naraku. That was all there to it. There was no happy reunion for him. None.

~O~O~O~O~O~

She was so hungry; she thought she could even eat the nearest human beside her. But she wasn't the only one hungry. The boy, who she was surprised to find beside her when she awoke, was on his back, his mouth open, and tongue dry, his eyes white circles. It seemed that if you got yourself lost in forests, starvation was one of the options for escaping the torture.

Sitting up, she stroked her stomach and heard a growl that didn't come from her, but the boy. She looked around and spotted a fire sizzling fresh caught fish. Drooling, she was about to take them, when a sudden burst of energy came from the boy. He jumped up and seized all of them and was about to stick all of them in his mouth when Mika stole one from his left hand.

"Why you—give it back!!!" he cried, reaching for the fish but was struggling to swallow his share and had to stop. Choking, he coughed and coughed until he managed to get it through his air tube. He sighed.

Mika sighed too. Just little pieces of fish that resembled anchovies can't fill you up that much. In fact, it didn't fill up anything at all. She turned to face the boy and watched him kill the flames. All of a sudden, the boy faced her too.

"You didn't faint because you were just hungry, were you?" he asked. For the first time, she felt a bit intimidated. Not even Sesshoumaru would be able to provoke a feeling of such deep suspicion like him. This made her stammer as she replied, like some murderer refusing to confess his sin and lying instead.

"W-What? I'm not… I was really hungry… I didn't eat for a week…"

"Hmm," he grunted, staring at her with a disbelieving expression.

She blushed embarrassingly. What kind of excuse was that? Then she used an old tactic and changed topics. "B-By the way, what's your name?"

"Why do you want to know?" he replied coldly. She gave him a weak smile. Appearances can give you a real shocker. For example, who would've thought a boy like him with such an adorable face and cute voice could have such a chilling personality. However, if she recalled what had happened before she fainted, he didn't seem like the mean type, like Sesshoumaru.

There must have been something. Something that had happened that made him like that.

"Well, isn't it nice to have more friends?" she reasoned, pointing a finger in the sky. The boy didn't believe her one bit and instead concentrated on getting rid of a fluff on his left shoulder plate. She figured that his clothes were for more show than for battle, since they were so fancy. _Kind of like Sesshoumaru,_ she thought.

"I don't need any friends. Especially women like you."

She didn't like the tone in his voice. _Yep, he's definitely a noble or something._ "And what do you mean by that, your royal highness?"

"I'm not a prince," he reminded her. "I'm just saying that I don't like _prostitutes_."

Silence seemed to have a lasting effect on Mika as the breezes came by. She didn't even know what that word meant, but she had a feeling it was something rude and unnecessary and sort of pitiful. After all… what had happened to her was kind of… related. _If_ it happened to her at all. "What?"

"I told you. I hate women like that. And besides, you're not even pretty anyway."

"I was just trying to be nice," she retorted, throwing her arms in the air and jumping up to her feet. "Fine, I don't need boys like you."

He scowled. "And what do _you_ mean by that, you flat chest prostitute!!!"

"Stop calling me that whatever that means! And I do not have a flat chest you pervert! And besides, you deserve to starve, you spoiled good-for-nothing prince!"

"I'm not a prince I tell you!"

"Then what is the fancy armor for?"

"What, you expect me to walk around naked? Sure, you probably do that on a frequent basis, but I'm a guy you know!"

"Yeah, and I'm a girl!"

"Hmmph!" He stood up and kicked the wood in her direction. "I should've left you there to die…" he said, somehow regretting his regretful heroic decision. "I don't even know why I bothered." He flung his long braid to the other side and insisted on folding on his arms, which revealed what a brat he was.

"Hmmph! I don't even know why I followed you!" She spat at his feet and kicked dust at him, though the sand ended in both sides. They coughed before resuming in their argument.

"Ah, so you admit to stalking me huh? Well that's just too darn bad, because I have an empty wallet!"

"You don't even have a wallet, baka," she pointed out.

"_Urusai,_" he snapped.

"No you," she said, her tone as harsh as his.

"No you shut up, unless you're looking for some blood in that infested mouth of yours," he threatened.

"You still insist on me being on whatever you called me?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Well I still think you're a useless brat," she said.

Then all of a sudden he stopped frowning and gave her puzzled look. "How old… do you think I am…?"

_That's decided; not only is he weird and moody, but he's a ditz too,_ she thought.

"Fifteen?" Then she thought a bit more and looked at his face. "Nah, fourteen.

He slapped her face without notice. "What the heck, I'm twenty!"

"WHAT??? NO WAY! Y…You're OLDER THAN ME???"

"Do I look that young?" He chuckled. "Well, I guess that's good anyway…"

She groaned and slapped herself on her forehead, ignoring the stinging pain on her cheek. He slapped hard; but not that hard, because she bet her old horse Hime (where was Hime anyway?) that if he really intended to hurt her, she'd be deaf by now. But considering the fact that he had a face of a fifteen year old and that he wore fancy clothes and carried a huge sword, he was definitely not an average boy.

Moving on with her questionnaire, she proceeded to ask him what he was doing in the forests. However, the boy became deadly serious this time, his eyes really glinting with hatred and something darker than she could comprehend. His fists clenched, his eyes focused on the trees as if he were spacing out but actually thinking deeply about something, and his teeth gritting against each other were all the signs she needed to know that he was not out here because he ran away from home.

"Eh… never mind I asked…" She scratched her head and sat down. Instantly, she felt the hatred enter herself. She scooted away immediately and began to feel the sweat trickling down. Such malice… she was lucky he was not aiming it at her.

"I'm… looking for people," he suddenly answered. Mika nodded swiftly.

"Oh. I uh, won't ask who you're looking for."

"What about you? I find it awkward that a miko would be here wandering around." he said. As she explained her current situation, though she left out Sesshoumaru and all the strange events that had happened way earlier, she felt the more she poured herself to him, the more he seemed to calm down. That meant the grudge was really deep, deep enough to change his real self, which was a talkative kid.

"By the way, are you human?" she asked uncertainly.

"So many questions," he said uncomfortably. "Can't you tell by looking at me?"

"I'm just feeling… but you don't feel like a human to me. I mean, if you hated someone really bad or if you were just mad, you would be huffing and puffing, but you're just sitting there, projecting everything toward me. It's… creepy."

He scowled. "I'm human, okay?"

"But…" Then, out of spite, she stuck her tongue out in her widening smile and reached out to pinch his cheeks. She pinched them successfully, and in return for her uninviting gesture, he bonked her head. As she stroked the hurting pain on her head, she laughed at the sight of his maddening face.

"What the heck was that for? I'm not your toy, all right?"

"Sorry, but I couldn't resist. You're really cute you know."

"That's it, you're a prostitute."

"No, I didn't mean it in that way! I mean like cute in dogs and kittens! It makes me want to take you home!"

"Seriously, stop flirting. You're scaring me," he said, edging away from her.

"I'm not flirting! I'm just being nice! Can't you be nice for once?"

He smirked. "I'm not a nice person."

"Meaning you're a spoiled brat with no common sense."

"Hey!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

The night was settling in. And so was the mood for the festival. But it wasn't a cheerful one, with sake and rice pouring in from nowhere. Sure, there was plenty of food to go around and many jokes, but the area where the river flowed was quiet. And when the time for Kikyo to perform a dance that was considered a sacred ritual for the people, everything stopped.

The miko was standing on a platform adorned with flowers that were for the dead that resided around them. She wore a red hakama that acted like a dress, a white kimono shirt, and no shoes. The miko's feet were traditionally supposed to be bare when the kaguras were preformed. In her hair were several ornaments; simple, but adding more delicacy to her, such as white and red ribbons tying a part of the hair in the back.

The cicadas were the flutes, while the ones with somewhat lower tones were the drums. The real drums, the beats created by men bringing down wooden sticks onto skins flattened and mashed together to create an echoing sound, were silent until Kikyo rose with a _torimono_, a sort of metal rod with half a circle at the end, with two bells tied on each side, shaking as she twirled around.

She then kicked her left foot in the air, landing back on the platform gracefully, her eyes closed. When her left foot touched the floor, her right foot immediately knelt, as if she were bowing with one knee and then she twirled around again, the bells on the torimono shivering to the right. Then she repeated the process again with her right foot in the air again, doing these three times until she began to point to each "gate" in which the ghosts pass through. When she was done with that, she spun the torimono above her head and brought it down, bowing.

As she rose, she spun around again, when all of sudden, ghosts of all sizes but in the shapes of blue orbs floated out of the ground. Like a tsunami, they flew toward her, barely missing her face as she twisted her body backwards. Then she brought the torimono back down, her hair tickling her cheeks as she did so.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Just as Bankotsu was about to smack Mika out of irritation, he thought he heard chanting somewhere. Chanting performed by children, or women with undeveloped voices. There were also bells, ringing loud in his ears. They wouldn't stop; they just kept on ringing, a little ding sometimes, and other times, a bong.

"Is there a village ahead or something?" he asked Mika, standing up to fetch Banyruu.

"I think so." She smelled the air and giggled. "Heh heh, that means food. And I'm going there first!" She ran past him, almost as if she was beckoning him to follow.

And sure, he was hungry. No, he was starving. But as he followed her, a sense of unwillingness grew inside him. He didn't want to hear the bells ring louder in his head. He wanted them to stop, and he would do anything to make them stop. His fingers, clutched tight on Banyruu's hilt as he ran after Mika, who was so desperately clueless at this moment.

When they found themselves at the foot of a village that was sort of empty because all of the villagers were occupied in some other area, the bells in his head was gone. He sighed. Maybe it was somewhere else.

Just then, he thought he saw a little boy. He was around the age of eleven and he wore a raggedy blue kimono. When the boy looked side to side as if he had just done some snooping, he saw the freckles on his face and his eyes.

"Hey, dude, look there's chicken—" Mika began, but when she spun around the boy was gone. She felt her stomach going queasy and it was not because she was hungry or there was a baby kicking at her.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Kikyo had said there was a man whose great, great grandfather had met with Midoriko and almost became her lover. If he had such grandfather, surely the stories of her must have been passed down, she said. That was what Kohaku was to do while she distracted all the villagers but the man.

He had to admit, sneaking into everyone's empty huts was a bit rude. But there were so many, and because now was such an important event, there was nobody to ask directions for. He had to enter people's houses without them knowing. He groaned as he entered another empty house. _At least Naraku's not making me kill anybody anymore…_

Just then he heard footsteps. Was someone tailing him? He hurried into a corner and brought out his scythe, when a shadow of a familiar sword towered over him.

"Yo, Kohaku," Bankotsu greeted him, with a smirk on his face he knew all too well.


	49. Episode 49

Episode 56: Bankotsu's Attempt

Anyone with common sense would know if they were in Kohaku's position that the man with the long black braid and big sword would know he wasn't there for a friendly chat. Especially if you considered what Kohaku was doing before he ran away. Which was to say, he was Naraku's obedient underling, wasn't he?

"Yo, Kohaku," he repeated, as if there was nothing else too aloof to say.

Kohaku felt a droplet of sweat ooze down its way down his freckled face as he watched the man before him bring down Banyruu from his shoulder. No one, and definitely not him, would want to be slit on the throat by that. He looked at the scythe in his hand and then back at the blade before him. There was no chance of winning. Just because Banyruu was big, that didn't mean Bankotsu was faster in wielding weapons.

"Still working under _Naraku?_" he asked, his delightful face turning into a frowning one.

Kohaku stayed silent. The only thing he needed to do was get away from him, and then he was free. But the fact that he was alive puzzled him; a Shikon no Kakera was powerful enough to bring back a life, so what was more powerful to bring back a dead corpse again? The only thing that could possibly do that would be Shikon no Tama, and as far was he knew, as long as he still lived, Naraku's hands would not be grasping the ball yet.

"Oi, you're not ignoring me on purpose, are you?" Bankotsu continued, taking a step toward him. Kohaku did his best to copy his puppet like personality, but the thought of Naraku dead lingered in his mind at all times, making it hard for him to pretend.

Then, before Bankotsu could take another step, he ran into the nearest house and through the back exit, sighing in relief at his amazing luck. Bankotsu was hot on his trail as he dashed out of the hut flap. He was about to go running to Kikyo when he remembered everyone was where she was staged. If he brought Bankotsu there, he knew the crazed murderer would kill everyone just to get to him.

All of a sudden, he ran into a girl who was standing there idly. Or maybe he was just running too fast. Either way, as she was knocked down, he heard the metallic sound of Banyruu greeting the floor. He stopped when he should have not and found himself staring in shock as he charged at him.

But then he crashed, his shoulder hitting the floor heavily.

~O~O~O~O~O~

He didn't know what came over him. He was about to grab the boy and make him cough up answers, when out of nowhere the bells rang in his ears again. This time, it was so loud it was deafening, making him go dizzy and his vision blurry. Before he knew it, Bankotsu was clutching his head tightly, his shoulder pushing against the floor. He tried to get up, but each second the bell would start again, giving him no time to move.

Then he felt arms supporting him. He felt the warm breath coming from someone's mouth and black hair tickling his neck. As he struggled to turn, he saw that it was the girl he had met earlier. He noted that her eyes were a pretty hazel, almost golden, but the dark speckles of brown provided proof she was a real human.

"Are the bells loud?" the miko asked.

He wanted to answer, and to tell you the truth, hug someone tight for his or her warmth. But he could only show her what he felt by his constant groaning; his shutting eyes and V shaped eyebrows. But she understood; she understood fully well that what he really was.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Because the huts were empty, nobody suspected anything of the two as they scurried away into a corner. Mika set the boy down against the wall as the cries of the distant villagers went on. Sighing, she sat down next to him and asked him if he was hungry. He didn't hear her and didn't reply.

The sword Banyruu she had put beside the boy, knowing that he had some sort of obsession with it, like how a modern man would be obsessed with his bike. It was really big, she had to admit, and it took all the anger she had to even drag it across the floor, leaving a terrible trail leading to them. _I should train some more,_ she thought, watching the boy blink as he stared at nothing.

Then suddenly, he asked, "Where'd you get that scar on your neck?"

A scar? She reached up to her neck with her right hand and stroked the softest part. He was right, there was an ugly scar there, but it was barely visible, and you could only tell if there was really one if you touched the flimsy skin. She shrugged. "Something happened I guess. I kind of have a problem…"

"What kind of problem," he asked.

"You know how some people can't remember what happened to them years ago? Well, I've forgotten everything that has happened. The only things I remember are the three years behind me."

"Mm," he grunted.

"I was wondering, how did you see it anyway?"

His reaction was only a turn to the side and a few moments to pass. Then he said, "I have one too. That's all."

"Where?"

"On my neck. Like yours. It's a bit worse though."

"Oh…" She cleared her throat and continued the conversation by asking, "Anything else you want to ask me?"

"What kind of festival is going on here?"

"Um, I heard from several villagers I passed by that there's a miko here who's performing a kagura."

"What's that?" his voice becoming seemingly interested. Mika smiled that she met someone who listened to her.

"It's a miko mai, you know, a dance. They use a _torimono_ with two bells attached to each side. But the bells are empty," she added, looking over to him. "Only _ghosts_ or the _living_ dead can hear them."

With a certain tone of pity, she said, "You're a corpse, aren't you?"

"I guess," he said. "Though I just want to go back to sleep and never come back again."

"Is this the first time you've been aroused?"

"No," he answered after some time. "I was killed not too long ago, again."

Slowly, Mika pieced together what the boy corpse was doing out here. He said he was looking for someone; is that someone he wanted to kill, someone who had killed him, or killed someone personally known to him? Considering his malice that projected randomly at times, that malice could've been made because he wanted revenge.

She studied his appearance again and thought that her theory wasn't too far off. After all, if he didn't want to kill, why would he be carrying a sword then? Then she thought back some more, to the part where he was going to kill the boy. Perhaps the boy was the one who murdered him, she thought.

"That face of yours is making me worried," the boy said, all of a sudden.

"Huh? Oh, sorry; I was just thinking about something."

"About stalking me?"

"No, I was just—never mind…"

"Come to think of it, I never asked for your name, didn't I?"

"My name's not important," Mika replied. "But if you really want to know, it's Mika."

Then at that point, she knew she should've not said her name. Because when she said it, the boy stood up and walked away.

"Then don't follow me anymore."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"I can smell dirt somewhere!" Inuyasha said, as they ran toward a village.

Tomorrow was the day Inuyasha became a human. That meant that a hideout was the best situation. Of course, Inuyasha protested and said they had one more day, but everyone agreed that they should lay low earlier. Eventually, he was forced to run around, smelling for food, which signaled a nearby village.

However, instead of food, he smelled dirt. No, not the kind of dirt you use to plant flowers; but the dirt of a corpse. In fact, there were three batches, one of them Kagome realized carried a Shikon no Kakera, telling her that Kohaku was there. And if he was there, then that meant the other person smelling like dirt would be Kikyo. But the last one; Inuyasha couldn't determine at all.

"What's wrong, Sango-chan?" Kagome asked, as she peeked over her shoulder to spot the youkai taijiya looking solemnly on the ground as she sat on Kirara. Behind her was Miroku, who felt the seriousness leaking out of Sango and knew it wasn't the time to grope her.

"Kohaku is there, isn't he?"

Kagome felt the goose bumps again, and something more; a fast heartbeat. She returned her face toward the direction Inuyasha was running. "Yes, he's there. His Shikon no Tama is _kirei_. So he's not killing anyone."

Sango did her best to see if Kagome was lying, but luckily, she was telling the truth. Her hands, which were holding Kirara's fur securely tightened. She wanted to see his face, see him safe and sound, and wished with all her heart that Kohaku was all right.

~O~O~O~O~O~  
Chocobo Jam

"Look, look! That little girl is using a big thing, what-it's-called???"

Bankotsu rolled his eyes as he explained to the over hyperactive girl. He had just told her not to follow him, and yet she was like a little puppy, following him everywhere, asking him about everything. He grimaced as she blanked out and pointed to something else. This was the reason why he never found a wife or even bothered to get married. And little kids? Yuck.

"You're so boring," Mika complained. "Sesshoumaru usually stands there and stares at me, but you're like venting…"

"Shut up," he snapped, trying to head farther into town when Mika suddenly pulled Banryuu out of his hands. If he wasn't so shocked, he would've gotten it back and slit Mika's throat, but unfortunately Mika had the upper hand.

"You'll scare people with this piece of wood!"

"HEY! GIVE IT BACK YOU—"

Before he knew it, she was grabbing a shovel and burying his poor sword in the ground. She dug a ditch exceedingly fast, despite the size of the sword and then threw it inside. Then she kicked everything back in and slapped her hands together. "There. Now we can go have some fun without worrying!"

Grabbing his shirt, she pulled him into the village unwillingly.

As they reached the huge crowd, he finally managed to wring her hands free. He bumped into someone and rubbed his head as Mika pulled him back up. The smell of chicken floated to his nostrils strongly… it made him weaker. "Stop it… girl… just—"

"Hey look, they're serving fried fish! Ooh! Let's get some!" She wrapped her arm around his and began to move toward the fish. But he wanted chicken… no… chicken!

"No! I'm tired of fish! I WANT CHICKEN!"

"I WANT FRIED FISH!"

"TOO BAD! NOW LET GO OF ME!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

Tugging back and forth like little children, they finally settled for some rice cakes. But they tasted like bleh, and soon, they were sitting down, empty stomachs again. Mika sighed and stroked her stomach. If she didn't eat soon, she would have to eat that weird ball Sesshoumaru had given her. Bankotsu on the other hand, was starting to feel like a real zombie.

Then they stood up once more and began heading in the direction of the platform when someone tugged on his braid. He gritted his teeth and turned around, ready to give some menacing butt-kicking when he found a little kid holding his hair. _That's it, I'm cutting it next time…_

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"You have strange hair. I've never seen anyone with such long hair. Are you a girl?"

"NO," he snarled. "Get lost."

"You're so mean!" Mika said, coming out of nowhere. She tugged on his hair too and chuckled. Then she returned to frowning. "Apologize."

"No. And where did you come from?"

"NOW!"

He bit his lip and murmured a silent apology. This sent the kid running back to his parents, which he was very glad for. Mika then proceeded to kick him, but he dodged out of the way and disappeared in the crowd before she could follow. He felt relief run through his body. He finally got rid of her.

But the flush of joy was soon gone when he happened to gawk where everyone's attention was aimed at, which was the platform. As he glanced up, he thought he saw a familiar face on the miko that was performing the kagura. And then it came to him!

That face of sorrow and hardships, the brilliant hair that floated down gracefully when she spun around… it only belonged to Kikyo. As he stared at her some more, he had to admit, she did really look like that girl wearing the green skirt. He smirked. That meant the boy was here to probably assassinate Kikyo or something. Knowing Naraku's hatred toward her that would be the only reason Kohaku would come to this village.

Then the dance was over. The miko bowed to the audience below and hurried out of sight.

When he noticed she was no longer there, he struggled to get through the crowd and followed her. Soon afterwards however, he gave up and left the stage area and began to circle the village, hoping he'd bump into her. Instead, he only witnessed a scene where a girl was being dragged into an alley by some strange men.

"NO! LET GO OF ME!" Then all of a sudden, the girl happened to look over to his direction. "You there! Help me! I'm being mugged!"

Bankotsu only coughed and ignored her as she disappeared. As he went farther and farther from the alley, he thought he heard her scream. He shivered, and decided to not walk past dark alleys anymore.

Then a hand drew out a sword and a certain tone he only remembered so well from past experiences. He halted and waited for the voice to yell out his name, which didn't surprise him at all. After all, his reputation as a famous mercenary never ceased to exist.

"Hey, you're the leader of the Shichinintai aren't you? Bankotsu wasn't it?" one of the men surrounding him said. They were bounty hunters, considering the way they dressed and held their rusty swords.

He turned around, watching them smirk in satisfaction that their deduction was right. "What do want with me?" he asked.

"Just your head. There's a rumor you see, that you revived again. And that's not good news you know."

Bankotsu nodded. "So what you're saying is that if you kill me, you get lots of money and woman right? Well," he said, returning their grins with one of his own. "Good luck with that."

"Shut up. You got done in by a half breed, they said."

Now he was ticked off. He didn't even want to remember who caused his final down fall and killed his brothers. "So?"

"So, there's nothing special about you!!!" Charging forward with a pitiful little knife they were ready to stab holes in him when he reached and held onto his wrist. A sweat bead trickled down his cheek as the bounty hunter looked up and found Bankotsu's vengeful eyes facing his. The aura of the once dead corpse flooded toward them as he broke the bones in the man's wrist. He gave out a wail of pain as he threw him toward his companions.

"Well then Mister, there's nothing special about you either." He chuckled as the man's bone poked out through his skin.

"M-monster!!!" the cowardly men cried as they abandoned the man crying in pain and ran away.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"OSUWARI!"

With a big thud, Inuyasha landed on the floor, right in the mark of a spiky poison ivy bush. The others stood over the cliff, watching Inuyasha get up with bruises and pains all over his body. Kagome on the other hand was furious.

"KAGOME! SERIOUSLY, WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL???"

"I JUST KNOW IT! YOU'RE GOING TO RUN OFF TO KIKYO!"

"I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT KIKYO! WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH YOU!"

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME! OSUWARI!!!"

After Inuyasha returned to the dirt ground, Miroku decided to help Inuyasha's image a bit and stepped toward Kagome. "Kagome-sama, perhaps Inuyasha didn't mean Kikyo-sama when he said he smelled dirt."

"Dirt on a certain person!" Kagome snapped.

Miroku sighed. Kagome was certainly irritable to know that she was sort of on the enemy's side in the village and that Kikyo had to save her. Well, maybe it was afterwards that made her mad. When Inuyasha ran off to find her and then came late the next morning. But certainly, Kagome knew that tomorrow was the day of the new moon. They needed to find a place to stay, but where?

"Kagome-sama, you do as well as we do that we shouldn't be punishing Inuyasha but finding a place for him to hide?" Miroku reminded her. Kagome grunted and picked up her yellow backpack, rummaging for the bag of chips she had remaining. As she ripped the package open and stuffed a crisp into her mouth, she walked ahead, ignoring the wise Houshi.

All of a sudden, Kagome laughed. "I found a village! Man I'm so hungry! Let's go, Sango-chan!"

Miroku felt a cold breeze as Inuyasha climbed back up. As Sango raced down the mountain path to join her friend, Miroku whispered to Inuyasha, "Why do I feel so lonely?"


	50. Episode 50

Episode 57: Boys will be Men, but Men will stay as Men

The girl was drenched in water. Her eyes were big and innocent, with chocolate orbs as irises. She had dark brown hair that flowed down to her waist. Bangs shaped like squares were clinging to the crown of her head. She wore strange clothes, like a black skirt and a white top that wasn't tied with an obi.

Then she turned and ran. She ran as far as she could, her footsteps growing quiet as they pit pattered the slippery forest floor that had recently received its shower. But Sesshoumaru could hear them; he could remember them and feel them. It was so easy to hear where she was going.

So he stood and watched with his ears until Rin ran after her. She disappeared too, with him calling after her, but she didn't look back, and continued to run. He grudgingly followed, his strides long enough to cover the distances the young girls had to make.

Then all of a sudden the footsteps of the soaked girl stopped. Rin came to a large log that acted like a cliff. She peered over the log and found the girl on her stomach, her face facing the dirt floor down in the pit like area. As she stood up and examined her scraped knee, she turned and looked at the incoming daiyoukai.

Her eyes were full of fear and she was about to run when she fell over onto her butt. Knowing she was cornered, she drew her hands to her face and screamed. Then she began to cry, sobbing loudly and somewhat pitifully.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Kyoko was the little girl in the family of two divorced parents. Her brother, Hitachi was always away from home, leaving her alone with her father Kashimo who was never happy. He wasn't happy you see, because he had to work for his little nine year old girl Kyoko, and on top of that, the extra money for college. His job barely paid all their bills, despite his valued hard work and overtime days. Sometimes he never came home, forcing his ex-wife to come over to their apartment room and watch Kyoko.

Kashimo was a tall man, well built and if he didn't have his fatherly mustache, some people might call him very handsome. He liked to wear blue sweaters and black pants that fell over his shoes exactly five centimeters and shoes brown as a chestnut. His eyes were brown and almond shaped as any respectable Japanese man should have, and his face squarely masculine.

Hitachi was a bit shorter, but he was somehow strangely still speeding up to the height of his father. He didn't have a mustache because he shaved everyday, but he looked youthful, and if you are a girl reader, you'd probably call him "hot". He had black hair that just sat on his head and fell down onto his forehead like a mop. But girls were still attracted to him, just somehow still attracted to him.

Kyoko, on the other hand had well cut bangs that fell over the crown of her head, just above her eyebrows. Her eyes were a light brown, almost hazel, but her loneliness didn't carry enough cheerfulness to make them dance and sparkle. Her face was round, but her father would sometimes whisper to his friends that she would become a beautiful lady with an oval face. The rest of her hair fell below her waist like a black blanket.

Sometimes Kyoko would look out to the sky and ponder about how her life would be if she was a princess. She would think and think until Hitachi came home with a new girlfriend; which he proceeded to dump immediately the day after wards. Then she would take a fast shower and go to sleep.

Hitachi had the habit of bringing home women you see, but Kyoko always thought it was just his friends. He never settled long with a girl and always threw her aside for a more prettier one and when he wasn't busy drinking whatever he drank outside with friends, he came home and went online to talk in chat rooms. He never considered college seriously, even though he was smart.

In fact, the only thing he took seriously was kendo, which he excelled. When he came home on rare days, sometimes he would tap Kyoko's shoulder and show her some of his moves. She would clap in joy, because that meant she wasn't so lonely anymore.

But that was just sometimes. She wanted all the time with her family as possible. She wanted a brother who didn't waste his life away being a play boy and playing video games. Sometimes, thinking like that made her wish she had a sister. An older sister who cared for her and made sure she was happy.

When she had these feelings, sometimes she would ask Kashimo on the days he came home from work, "Daddy, do I have a sister?"

And Kashimo would shake his head grimly, put his coat on a rack and then proceed to the bathroom where he could relax for fifteen minutes in the hot water. But Kyoko thought her "sister" was just staying with Sakena, her mommy.

Eventually, the line of questioning became a daily ritual for Kyoko. Everyday, at the breakfast table when she was about to go to school, she'd ask, "Daddy, I do have a sister, don't I?"

Kashimo would say no, always no; just never a simple yes to make her stop asking these pointless questions. Until one night at the dinner table, a not so frequent occasion, Hitachi said something that would stick in Kyoko's mind for the rest of her life.

"Hey dad, I was wondering…"

Kashimo stabbed the pair of chopsticks into his mouth, dropping a fried pickle that was fried quite nicely and turned to look at him when the food disappeared down his throat. "Go on, I'm listening."

"_She'd_ would be seventeen now, wouldn't she?"

The father of the table was quite shocked to hear him speak of this "she". "Who is this girl? A new girlfriend?"

Hitachi threw down his chopsticks and stood up. "Dad, how can you forget?" His hand rose to his chest. "Her!"

Kashimo stood up as well, towering over his son. "I have no idea of what nonsense you are talking about!"

He looked defiant. Very defiant and very ticked off. "Sometimes I wonder what kind of father you are."

"What?"

Hitachi scowled and looked over to Kyoko, who was just eating her rice quietly and obediently. As two seconds passed, Kyoko looked up and then dropped her chopsticks in fear.

"Nii…chan?"

"I haven't forgotten. I haven't at all. But you have, when she's just sitting there in front of you!"

"Young man, just what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about my _sister_!"

"Your sister is _Hashi_Kyoko, who is sitting right in front of you!"

"No, I'm not talking about Kyoko. I'm talking about _Hashi Mika_!"

Now Kashimo was the one who looked insolent. His mouth was turned into a frown, his eyebrows arched into a V, his eyes glinting with anger, and his fists clenched into fists.

"I don't know who you're talking about, and if you spout anything more about this imaginary sister of yours, I'm taking you to the hospital where they'll check your brain. Now let's sit down and have a nice dinner," he spat, using his finger like some kind of knife to poke the table in a repeated pattern.

"I'm not hungry," Hitachi snapped, spinning on his heel in the direction toward his room.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"My name is Rin. What's yours?" Rin asked when they were in a drier area. They had created a fire from a few batches of wood and by now it was sparkling with joy.

The girl, whose face was still sort of wet, only stared blankly at the fire. She was just two years older than Rin and she had no intention of speaking. Time to time, she would turn and stare at the daiyoukai who sat at the root of the large tree, probably wondering what kind of man would have such long white hair.

Over to Sesshoumaru's side, he was busy sorting out his thoughts. He was sorely shocked when he saw the girl. At first, it was the appearance and scent. The girl _looked_ identical to Mika, no she _Mika_. The differences were so small, so insignificant. For example, her hair was better kept, not like a raggedy mess like Mika's. And her smell was of perfume, just like Mika even though she was as plain as the miko herself.

Then the other thing that bothered him was how she came to be where she was standing. Wet to the bone, standing idly there; the same scenario ten years ago.

He glanced at the sky. He couldn't remember.

"Oji-san?"

He turned around, quite annoyed and was expecting Mika to be standing there, but instead the brown eyes of the girl's stared into his. He considered giving her a beating for insulting him, but her face stopped him from doing anything. Her face was just too identical to Mika's. And he wouldn't be able to lay a hand on Mika.

His raised eyebrow gave the girl the cue to continue speaking. "Where are we?"

"We're in the forest."

"Oji-san, do you know how I can get back to Tokyo?"

"I do not know of this Tokyo you speak of."

The girl bowed. "I'm sorry. I won't bother you anymore." Then she turned and began to run off when Sesshoumaru stopped her with his voice.

"What's your name?"

The usual silence replaced the words of reply that usually came after Sesshoumaru asked his questions. Then the Mika look alike said:

"Hashi Kyoko _des_."

~O~O~O~O~O~

The night was especially beautiful today. He felt goose bumps, something he hadn't had for a long time through his body. Soon, he felt warm but lonely. The days where he spent the hard earned night with his brothers was long gone. He looked below him, where the festival was still lively. Sitting on high places, such as the temple tiles was a habit of his.

"Found you," a voice called out. He turned and sighed when he realized it was Mika. She sat beside him and grinned.

"Are you having fun?"

"No. It's not fun when you're still dead."

"Hmph. Grouchy," she commented, taking a bite out of a greasy drumstick. "Just because you're dead doesn't mean nothing isn't fun. Isn't there anything you'd like to do? Like a dream?"

He thought about it for a while, and then answered, "Yeah. I guess I do."

"What is it?"

"I don't want to tell you."

"Why not? I'll tell you mine."

Bankotsu looked over at a smiling Mika and groaned. "I kind of want to get married. Okay?"

"Oh, how romantic. And I thought you didn't like kids."

"That's why I never married, stupid."

"Heh," she chuckled. "I want to get married someday too."

"You can't! You're a miko!"

"Sometimes you gotta bend the rules! I mean, just because you're dead doesn't mean you can't have a life."

"All the dead meet the same fate. I'll die before I can do anything."

At that point, Mika felt not only the hatred that brought back Bankotsu to the world, but his loneliness. She once had the same loneliness too, the same self-loathing. She couldn't smile anymore. His heart… she wanted to mend it, she wanted to fill it with memories he could enjoy. Maybe he could then, have a life he wanted.

Then she turned to the sky. When Bankotsu sat beside her, she didn't know why, she felt safe. She only met him three hours ago and yet she felt like he was her long lost best friend. It was really peaceful, just feeling his aura. It was sort of the same aura she felt when she was around Sesshoumaru. A strong, leader like aura that was purer than anything else. Perhaps this was what lured her to follow the boy.

She stood up and stretched. "Who do you want to get revenge for, anyway? Can't you let it go somehow? Forgive the person?"

"It's not just _one_ person." He stood up too and clenched his fists. "And it's not only those people. I hate everyone around me. I hate humans. I hate youkai."

"Then… do you hate me?"

"Hmph." He sat back down, crossing his legs over each other and folding his arms. "I don't even know you."

"But you said you hated everyone around you. That means you hate me too, right?"

"You're ticking me off," he snapped.

"You hate me too, don't you?"

Bankotsu felt the goose bumps again. Stupid goose bumps. "Yeah, I hate you. That's enough reason for you to stop following me right?"

But despite his cold heart, his rash attitude, and his hatred that was borne out of his deaths, he couldn't help but widen his eyes when Mika started sobbing. She was doing her best not to tear up, he could tell from the way she kept sniffing. She knelt down and clawed at the floor. Did he hurt her feelings?

Then all of a sudden, she glared at him with her most ferocious face and screamed.

"Well guess what? I hate you too! I hate every boy, ever man that I come across with! You guys are all just jerks!!! I HATE YOU BANKOTSU!!!" And with that, she stormed off the roof, leaving him speechless.

Bankotsu watched as Mika jumped down to the streets, her red hakama flittering in the wind as she disappeared in the crowd. He was puzzled. He never told her his name and she didn't seem to have a clue who he was, so how did she know he was Bankotsu?

~O~O~O~O~O~

Confused and distraught, Mika stumbled on her way out of the village. What was she doing, clinging to a strange boy like that? She sniffled. She was a jerk herself, leaving Sesshoumaru and following every weird clothed boy like that. She should've apologized and told him she didn't mean anything she said. Sighing, she halted in her tracks and turned back to spot a happy couple with her wet eyes.

They looked completely content with each other; their mouths open wide with laughter. Her eyes happened to notice the woman's large stomach. She was pregnant with a child. She watched as the man stopped and placed a hand on the woman's stomach. He smiled at her and then they continued to walk.

As they disappeared, she stroked her stomach. It had bulged, without her aware of it. She _was_ carrying a child, whether she liked it or not. She bit her lip. What was she doing?

All of a sudden, she thought she heard distant footsteps. She spun around and almost tripped when she saw who it was.

A man, definitely taller than she was, with long silver hair stood before her. He wore a fancy kimono and light armor that was getting to be rusty. On his right shoulder lay a white tail. It was, of course, Sesshoumaru.

"I thought you knew me by now," he said. His voice was the same as always; the same tone of pride and arrogance, but gentle and rude at the same time.

Her lip quivered as she raised a hand to her face to wipe the tears. She didn't know what to say. Only "gomenasai" came to her mind.

"Well, are you coming are not?"

What was he saying? Coming? Her heart began to beat its usual fast routine. Blush grew onto her face. "Since when did I have to come along? I thought you thought I was annoying."

He raised an eyebrow and scowled. "I never said anything of the sort."

She grinned and dried her tears. Sesshoumaru stood there for a few more moments before he turned, walking a slow stride, knowing she was there to follow. And he had to admit:

Her smell wasn't so bad after all.


	51. Episode 51

Episode 58: A Detested Encounter

When the girl named Rin announced that the man with silver hair was coming, Kyoko stood up and walked away. She wanted to go home and was set on running around until she went back to her home, where her crude brother and hardworking father waited. As she ran into the forests, listening to Rin call for her, crystalloid tears trickled down her chin.

She was scared of the man. She was scared at their weird appearances, the weird green imp, and the world around her. It was so alien like, so unreal; she just wanted to be somewhere else. Unfortunately, as she thought about her situation, she tripped over a log and fell into the muddy mess below. There was only one thing left to do; and that was to cry.

She sat on her butt, her hands wiping the salty water all over her face. She cried because she wasn't at home with her family. She cried because she just couldn't stay put. And she also cried because she just couldn't do anything for herself.

Only when the trees' creepy rustling shut her wailing. Her hands left her face as she looked up and spotted a man. Behind him was a trail of blood, distinctively warm and dark. Resting on his shoulder was a massive sword stained with the crimson liquid, which was dripping onto the floor like drool. Her eyes found the man's eyes, which were set right below his wide forehead, cold and without regret that the blood was onto his clothes.

His hair was tied in a long black braid, while bangs zigzagging fell onto the crown of his head, barely covering his fierce and thick eyebrows. He was frowning and with the frown was his mouth; turned like an upside down U. Maybe someone had ticked him off, or maybe he was in a bad mood. On his forehead was a mark; a mark that burned an image in her mind.

He was walking in her direction, his footsteps silent even though the sword looked heavy on his shoulder. His eyes were paralyzing her every breath, making each inhale harder. Soon he was so close; she could see the outline of the blood that had splattered on his face and the smell of the blood. His eyes turned to glance at her. She gulped and tried to take a step backwards, but somehow her voice, tears, and her will to move disappeared.

She took notice that his eyes were a black color, with a hint of not brown or golden, but blue. She watched as he blinked once, then twice all while heaving the sword onto the floor. She could feel her heart pounding as the sword made a hole in the dirt. Was he going to dismantle her into pieces so small no one could see? Was he going to kidnap her and throw her into a cliff? What was he going to do?

The questions kept feeding the paranoia inside her. The fact that the boy was staring at her in such a malicious way and that his face was covered in blood made her panic. She had to do something before he made the first move. But before she could, the blade left the floor and was heading toward her. The only thing she could do before getting killed was scream her loudest.

All of a sudden, the blade plunged into the tree beside her. The air that was traveling at her came to a halt. Her breathing immediately escalated to a high speed, as if she were gasping for oxygen. Then she fell to her knees, her eyes searching the place randomly for the reason of why the tip of the pointy end didn't pierce her.

Then the tree was split in half and Kyoko regained the ability to move. She ran out of the boy's way, but soon had to duck from an incoming swing for her head. As she turned, she found a white snake coiling her long body around the sword, making the boy in the blue armor's aim horrible. Then she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," a boy wearing a dark blue armor and a black kimono outfit said. His face was round and gleaming with eagerness. He had brown spiky hair. "_Yukuro-sensei_ is really strong!"

Even with that assuring thought, Kyoko kept her eyes on the boy and the white snake. Sometimes when the snake seemed to lose control and the boy was about to charge toward her, Kyoko would tense up and take a step backward.

But someone, soon enough, the boy threw aside his sword and the snake was thrown back. As the boy gritted his teeth, the snake assumed the form of a human and before Kyoko could say "Kami-sama", the snake turned into a woman the age of twenty. Her hair was pure white, instead of silver, and her eyes were a pair of green emeralds. She wore a dark purple kimono with sleeves that dragged to the floor. Her hakama were white however, just like her hair. Her lips were painted with a rouge of light red, while on her neck she wore a string of green beads as an accessory.

"A _hebi_ huh?" Now his face was stained with sweat.

"A murderer," Yukuro mocked. "I can't believe you'd go so far as to kill a child." She then raised her left sleeve to cover her nose. "You smell like blood… and a lot of it."

The boy only glared blankly at her. "It's pretty obvious, since I haven't taken a bath yet."

Yukuro grimaced. That was true. Though the dirt was still fragrant, the blood hid most of his scent. She had a hard time tracking him down; her specialty wasn't smell, but the warmth that came from human and prey. And the boy had a different kind of warmth. Like the warmth of a corpse, fake, but somewhat real in their own way.

Then all of a sudden the boy laughed. "I never expected to you to save that girl. Youkai usually hate humans. Maybe you knew her or something."

"I do know Mika," she blurted out immediately. Then she turned around to glance at Kyoko, but then gasped. "You're not… Mika."

Everyone was mistaking Kyoko for someone else. But instead of jealousy, or anger, a spark of hope stirred in Kyoko. She remembered Hitachi talking about a "sister" named Mika. Perhaps the sister she'd been looking for was here; somewhere in this desolate world. She opened her mouth to ask about this person, when the boy gave his own reply.

"…You know Mika?" he asked, his sword that was pointed toward Yukuro lowering.

"OF COURSE I KNOW THAT GIRL! SHE'S ABOUT AS ANNOYING AS A FLY! But she's the best! Because… you don't need to know why…"

The boy grimaced at the thought of Mika and groaned. "I hate her…"

"I can see why. Sesshoumaru hates her too, I think."

At once, Yukuro knew who the real pest was. Her eyes widened as the boy scowled. And it wasn't a regular pouting scowl. It was the evil, deranged, sarcastic scowl without the smile. His head tilted to the side as he gawked at her with lifeless eyes once more.

"Mika knows Sesshoumaru?"

"Um… no. She doesn't!" She slapped a hand to her face and looked at Kyoko. The resemblance was hard not to notice. _That could be a problem,_ she thought as she returned her eyes to glance at the boy. She realized that it wasn't only Kyoko she should be worrying about.

"If you know Mika, and Mika knows Sesshoumaru, that means you have some worth, don't you?" His arm swung the blade to the side, where the dry blood blacked the light that was reflecting from the sunlight.

Yukuro bit her lip as the crazed boy known as Bankotsu, if you didn't already figure out; approach them at a speed no one thought was possible of this corpse. Kyoko, meanwhile who was clutching the black balloon pants that Haku wore for protection only watched the scene with her innocent eyes, unknown of what this man was about to do to them.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin cried as soon as Sesshoumaru was in the range of speaking. But Sesshoumaru continued to walk until Rin told him about the girl that he had spotted about an hour ago.

"The girl that Rin was with is gone," Rin explained sadly.

_She means the girl that strangely resembled Mika,_ his brain reminded him. He turned to glance at Mika, who was looking dreamily at the sky.

"Mika," he said, about the second time he actually used her name. "You have any siblings?"

"Huh? Um… no, I don't think so. If I did, I don't remember."

Mika's puzzled face was enough proof that she wasn't lying. But the truth behind the mirror face of that girl's was poking at him. He wanted to know. And the fact that she had appeared the same way a human had appeared ten years ago… it was even more interesting than the girl's appearance.

"Does the name "Kyoko" apply to any resurfacing memories to you?" he continued.

Mika shook her head.

"Is something bothering you Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken asked, waddling up to his lord. But Sesshoumaru was so deep in his thoughts, only when a boy wearing red armor and had his black hair tied behind his neck came out from nowhere. He fell to his knees, his head facing the floor as he went into a bowing posture. He begged for help, but he talked so fast nobody could understand him.

"Speak slower human!" Jaken whispered to the boy. The youth took a breather before repeating everything he said.

"PLEASE SESSHOUMARU-SAMA! HELP US! YUKURO-SENSEI—SHE'S IN DANGER! AND HAKU CAN'T HOLD OUT FOR THAT LONG! PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU!"

"Yukuro is in danger?"

"YES!!! THERE'S THIS SCARY GUY WITH A HUGE SWORD AND HE'S GOING TO KILL THEM!!!" The boy, who was obviously one of Yukuro's apprentices that went by the name of Otari began to cry when Mika hurried to kneel down and wipe away his tears.

"Take us to her!"

"But… I can't…"

"Wha—"

"I don't know where they are…"

Sesshoumaru stepped into the conversation. "Then how are we supposed to do anything?"

"I—I'm sorry. I was really scared… I thought he was going to kill the little girl," he blubbered, sniffing.

At once, the daiyoukai seemed to be very motivated. "Did she look like the miko in front of you?"

Otari studied at Mika's face and nodded slowly. "Come to think of it, I almost thought you were the little girl."

Sesshoumaru grinned. He already knew where they were then. The smell of the little girl's was so similar to Mika's, it was hard to tell who was who, but his sense of smell was his expertise. Mika had the smell of perfume and orchids which suited her obnoxious personality that caught everyone's eye. Kyoko on the other hand smelled of the same perfume fragrance, however with the hint of young lilacs mixed in.

"Let's go," he said, his words directed toward Mika as a silent sign for her to follow. As Mika boarded upon Ah-Un with Rin and Jaken, Sesshoumaru took flight toward the direction of the fragrance. However, as he got nearer to the smell of the lilacs, he thought he smelled Yukuro's blood.

When he arrived at the scene, Yukuro was collapsing at the feet of the original leader of mercenaries, Bankotsu. Haku, who was already unconscious, was on the left side of Yukuro's spot, his face and stomach facing the earth. There were quite a few wounds, but none of them serious. It seemed that he wasn't in the mood for a real kill yet.

"That half-dead corpse," Sesshoumaru commented as soon as they arrived on the scene. Mika shot him a puzzled glance, wondering if he and the boy ever met.

"Oh, as if it isn't Sesshoumaru! I was sort of looking for you," Bankotsu said, greeting them with a bloodthirsty grin. Mika trembled. And she was thinking he was some innocent fifteen year old or something. Bankotsu brought Banyruu to the sky to flick off the blood as he pondered about something. "Let's see… who did you kill?" Then his grin widened. "Mukotsu, was it?"

"I know not such a person," Sesshoumaru said.

Suddenly, a moo from a cow gave the cue for Totosai to remind Sesshoumaru about something. "Sesshoumaru, you'll test out Tenesiga right?"

Sesshoumaru's frown deepened. He had forgotten Tenesiga was no longer a sword of healing but a sword of destruction. A waste of time to show the corpse his claws, but at least the old man had reminded him. At once, his hand flew to the hilt of Inu no Taisho's legacy, and drew out the brand new blade of Tenesiga.

The blade that once shown an aura of purity was now shining with an aura that usually came from the sources of the Underworld. It was still shiny and clean, but sometimes when held at an angle, speckles of black would show up. And Sesshoumaru could feel it too; the different properties that Totosai had blended in using fire and a hammer. He had to admit, the old man wasn't so useless after all.

"What are you going to do with that puny sword?" Bankotsu taunted. Sesshoumaru replied his smirk with his own. He had beaten Inuyasha's huge sword, Tessaiga with his claws before. Now that he had Tenesiga, shouldn't the battle more even now?

"You'll see," he answered. He shifted the sword menacingly at Bankotsu and then made his move by bringing it down at the hilt of Banyruu.

But Bankotsu, being one of the dead before realized the strange qualities of Tenesiga and immediately dodged it by jumping backwards instead of blocking it with Banyruu. He glowered as his deduction became correct. Where Sesshoumaru's sword had cut, a black, crescent like shape sucked in the light and air like a void. And Bankotsu knew voids were never good things.

"That's a weird sword you got Sesshoumaru," Bankotsu commented, a sweat bead rolling down his cheek. His eyes scanned the area for something useful. They only found the peering Mika in the sky. He felt a bit uneasy as he stared at her face. There was something about the girl that he didn't like.

While Bankotsu and Sesshoumaru were taking out their hatred the manly way, which was to fight, Mika and Ah-Un examined the forests around them for a place to land without getting in the way of their battle to pick up Yukuro and Haku. As soon as Mika spotted one, she hurried to Yukuro's side and helped the snake youkai up.

She coughed as she awoke. "Mika? Is that you?"

"Yeah, I'm Mika. There's nobody else that looks like me," she said.

Yukuro chuckled. "There is one…" Then she shook her head. "I'll tell you later, but right now, we just need to get—"

Of course Bankotsu wouldn't just let them sit there and talk. Just as Yukuro was about to push Mika away, he came running toward at them. He was pretty fast too, for a human corpse and he had Mika in his arm in no time. He backed to a cliff, his arm blocking the way for her to breathe. Sesshoumaru on the other hand only neared toward them with Tenesiga ready in hand.

"Hostages don't work on me," Sesshoumaru said as soon as he realized what Bankotsu was doing.

"I know that." He backed one more step behind. "But if you don't care, why are you coming toward us then?"

"You're the enemy," he simply reasoned.

Mika gulped. That was true, but if Sesshoumaru really had enough heart to wield Tenesiga, that meant he was sort of worried about what might be inside her. After all, he went to the trouble to fetch a weird jewel for her.

"In any case, I'm just getting rid of her. She's annoying right?"

_You know, I can hear you quite well,_ Mika thought bitterly. She struggled to breathe as he took one last step.

And then he let go. His hand unwound from her neck, giving her the push she needed to fall into the river below. As she plummeted, tears of wrath fell from her eyes.

"WHY AM I ALWAYS FALLING OFF CLIFFS—"

Soon, her voice was disappearing as the waters' chilling azure arms reached out to swallow her. Sesshoumaru's guard was thrown off as he prepared to take flight and rescue her, but Bankotsu grinned at the reaction he was expecting and flung Banyruu at him. He had to leap away, leaving Mika to the cold, cold waters.

Luckily, Yukuro had enough strength to jump into the cliff too and transform into her real form, a large serpentine and act as landing for her. She coiled her head around Mika securely and when they splashed into the waters, she used her back to support Mika as she swam to nearby ground. As she helped Mika onto the earth, she made a mental check on her body to make sure she was all right.

But just a few seconds after resurfacing to the ground, Mika descended. She hit the dirt with her right shoulder, scrunching into a fetal position as she wailed. Yukuro screamed too, for she had no idea what was going on.

"M-Mika? W-What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

Mika only continued to wince and clamp her teeth together. She did her best not to cry out, but agony was ripping the insides of her. It was hurting… she was hurting so much! Her hands clawed at her stomach as she squeezed her eyes shut in pain.

"A-Are you "ready" or something? Mika! Oh—" Yukuro's hands rose to her head, massaging pressuring points as she frantically searched for a way to soothe Mika's pain. "WHAT DO I DO, WHAT DO I DO?"

"Y…Yukuro… the baby…"

"What? WHAT? THE BABY? IT'S COMING! OH LORD! UH… SESSHOUMARU!!!"

As Sesshoumaru was backed to the cliff after dodging another dangerous swing of Banyruu, he looked down below to listen to Yukuro's plead.

"GET DOWN HERE!!!" Yukuro called. "I THINK MIKA'S READY!!!"

Bankotsu only gave him a confused look. He paused in his attacking to ponder, "_Ready_? Is the girl _sick_ or something? Ah whatever." He leaped to bring down Banyruu when Sesshoumaru slashed the Tenesiga in the air, standing there with a composed posture. He was about to become sucked in when he stopped just in time.

Then, before he could stop him, he joined Yukuro and Mika below. As he sheathed Tenesiga he knelt down and listened to Mika whisper weakly in his ear. And he had to admit; he was really shocked.

"I… think… the baby's… the baby's…_kicking_…"

At that point, Sesshoumaru wanted to kill her right there and now. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Well, it really hurt because I didn't expect it to be this painful."

"It's going to be worse when it really comes out."

"Don't remind me," Mika whined.

Yukuro let out a giggle. They were having a pretty smooth conversation, even in a heated battle.

Sesshoumaru stood and glanced up toward at Bankotsu, who was glaring at them with an impatient look. Then he picked up Mika and dashed into the forests, beckoning Bankotsu to follow them. And so he did, climbing down the rocks by jumping as if it were an easy feat. As he crossed the river and approached Yukuro, who flinched at the sight of him, he ran into the forests after them.

Yukuro on the other hand just remembered something important.

Where was Kyoko?


	52. Episode 52

Episode 59: The Corpse's Vengeance

"I smell a lot of blood!" Inuyasha announced when they were in the perimeter of the nearby village. Shippo and Kirara nodded in agreement as they curled up uncomfortably. When they entered the village, it was certainly shocking.

By the bloody appearance of the village, it was obvious that someone had made an attempt to kill everyone. Most of the villagers were dying, but they still had some life left in them. A few children were bruised and badly injured as well, but many were doing their best to help the elderly and their parents.

Most of the wounds were inflicted by a sword, some a fist, but over all, it was pretty terrible. Inuyasha glowered as everyone mourned when he or she witnessed his or her family members in pain. He wanted to find who did this and beat them up so badly. His fingers clenched into a fist as he heard the distant weep of a child.

"The smell of blood isn't only coming from here," Inuyasha said, after a few minutes of sniffing. "There's someone with the same sort of blood all over their body."

Kagome shifted her yellow backpack to her right shoulder and glanced over to her left. She felt the presence of one Shikon no Kakera; meaning Kohaku was in the village. That meant Kikyo was here too. _It really was Kikyo who Inuyasha smelled. But why did he have to lie…?_

"The person who hurt all them has the same smell of dirt I smelled earlier," Inuyasha suddenly spoke, countering all of Kagome's thoughts as if he were reading her mind.

"Should we follow this person?" Miroku asked.

"Well…" He turned to Kagome. "What do you think Kagome?"

For the first time, he was asking for her opinion? She shook her head in confusion and took a few steps toward the scene of blood. "Let's go. I think we should know what happened here. But before we go, Sango-chan," she said, glancing over to Sango. "I sense a Shikon no Kakera… and I think it could be Kohaku-kun's."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Now that the village was quiet in a way he didn't like, such as silence for the coming of the dead, Kohaku slipped into a hut he had been looking for. As he moved the flap away, he found himself staring at a man's back. When his two feet stood on the floor, the man turned, his sad eyes mirroring his own.

"Um, I'm sorry for intruding, but are you the great, great grandson of the man who met Midoriko-sama?"

"Yeah, I am. Is there something you need to know about Midoriko?"

"Eh, yeah."

"That's what everyone comes to me for. But sorry, I don't talk to anyone about Midoriko. My great, great grandfather passed it down his generation a secret that can't be told to anyone." The man turned away and began to return to whatever he was doing but Kohaku didn't stop there.

"_Himitsu_? Do you mean the Shikon no Tama?"

"That's part of it, but it's not really a secret. I mean, everyone knows what a Shikon no Tama is, right?"

"I suppose. But I have one." He reached up and touched his neck. "It's the only thing holding onto my life, and I need to know as much as I can about Midoriko and the Shikon no Tama."

"You don't want to know," he said, towering over Kohaku as he stood up. He glared at him with cold eyes for several seconds before saying, "Get out."

"But—"

"GET OUT!!!" The man seized Kohaku's wrist and began to drag him out. He pulled really hard, for Kohaku had no intention of leaving until he got his answers. He considered forcing it out of him with the appearance of his scythe, but then he decided another way would be more efficient. Just as he was almost outside, a haunting voice of a young girl's echoed through the man's small hut.

"You liar."

The man spun around, as if a ghost had tapped lightly on his shoulder. But when his eyes scanned the area, which was cluttered with pots, mats, and a few batches of ash that was scattered on side, there was no being in sight that was capable of making such a voice. He shook his head and continued to push Kohaku out of his hut, when the girl spoke again. This time, he found the source, and almost cried out when he saw a girl wearing strange clothes standing outside his hut.

"You killed the real grandson, didn't you?"

"Shut up! He—he wouldn't tell me anything so I just knocked him out…" The man then threw Kohaku to the floor and backed away, all the while he pulled out a knife from his sleeve. It was half broken, but one end was still sharp. "You want to kill me don't you? YOU WANT TO KILL ME?"

As Kohaku tried to regain his footsteps, he felt fearful of the man behind him. The girl only said that he had murdered the real grandson. Was it really enough to drive him suspicious of everyone? He watched as the man lash the knife dangerously toward the girl. But the strange clothed human didn't even flinch.

Then, as if he was intimidated by the girl's cold stare, he rose up the knife to his neck and slit his own throat. But he didn't stop there; he kept slicing it as if it were beef until his head was bending over his back, the blood seeping all over the floor. Kohaku wanted to scream and throw up at the same time, while the younger and tinier girl laughed. She laughed as if she had witnessed a funny scene, her mouth wide enough for Kohaku to count the upper and bottom teeth.

She said in a voice that wasn't suited for small girls, "You deserved it."

Kohaku shivered as the girl's eyes landed on him. He hurried and got to his feet, so that his shadow towered over hers, giving him some confidence. But it was soon washed away when the girl shot him a mean smile.

"Hello. How are you? Have you seen my sister?"

Just then, before she could say anything Sango and her emotionally attached nekomata Kirara came by. As the Sango jumped onto the dirt floor, the girl ran away. Kohaku reached out with his hand and opened his mouth to ask her to stop, but the girl was good at sprinting. The girl was just a speck of light in a few seconds, ducking away in the shadows of the trees.

"Kohaku! Are you all right?" Sango asked. Then she turned and gasped when she saw the gruesome scene. She hurried and returned her attention to Kohaku as if she suspected him to be the culprit.

"I'm fine… Aneue, it's just…" His eyes met hers. "Don't worry, I didn't kill him. By the way, what did you need from me?"

"About Kikyo… are you really going to stay with her?"

He sensed his sister's tension in her words and looked away. He pulled out his scythe and glanced at the metal glimmering in the sunlight. "Kikyo-sama is the only way I can defeat Naraku and atone for my sins. If there's no other choice, I'll rip out the Shikon no Kakera myself!" He held it toward Sango and then said, "That's why I can't stay with you. I'm sorry, but don't come after me anymore!"

Then he took off too in the direction where the girl had gone. Leaving Sango and her mouth open. The leaves fluttered by as she boarded upon Kirara, disappointed and heartbroken. She had failed to convince Kohaku and found out it was his will that he was staying with Kikyo. Not hers… she sighed. She wanted to blame Kikyo. But it turned out that Kikyo was only doing what was best. But… was it really the good thing?

When Sango arrived back at the grim looking group, they saw her expression and felt even worse than before. She nodded and told them she was ready. But Kagome could tell by the silent weep of her youkai taijiya friend that she wasn't. She wasn't ready for anything else. Only for the embrace of her brother that she would never receive.

"Inuyasha…" Sango said when they were trailing the blood's scent. "Do you think Kikyo is going to kill Kohaku any time soon?"

Inuyasha lowered his eyelids and let depression sink in his tone even though he didn't mean to. "Why are you asking me?"

Kagome, who was clutching tightly on Inuyasha's shirt, glanced over to Sango's. She already knew why. After all, the one who had been with Inuyasha and felt his welcoming embrace was Kikyo. Inuyasha was the one who knew her the best.

"You have a history with her don't you? Considering her attitude, do you think she'll make a move and…"

"I… don't know. But I know for sure she won't right now. It isn't the time. She would probably go after Koga's shards first before killing Kohaku."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome hissed in his ear. He rolled his eyes and bit his tongue. He had to say "kill".

"It's fine Kagome-chan. It can't be prevented. It's for the best, isn't it?"

"Everyone, stop!"

The sudden cry of Miroku's shocked everyone into a halt. Inuyasha almost tripped over a random log sticking out of the mud, while Kirara was about to bump into the hanyou. Luckily, what they saw made them stop just in time. Ahead of them was a cliff. They most certainly couldn't just jump over.

Kagome got off of Inuyasha's back as he went over to Miroku's side to examine what was below the cliff. As he peered below, he sniffed the air and widened his eyes. Kagome took note of his fists, which were clenched tightly.

"Sesshoumaru… was here."

"Eh?" everyone exclaimed. Miroku said, "You sure?" to confirm it. Inuyasha nodded.

"You think I don't know my own disgusting brother's scent? Other than that, there are few others… three belong to humans, another belonging to a youkai I don't know what it is, and the last one… a corpse?" He smelled it again. "It's the same smell I smelled earlier! The smell of dirt… from Mt. Hakurei!"

This was quite the shocker. Sango quickly tried to fill the subject with doubt by saying, "Wasn't it collapsed?"

"Sure… but the only corpses I can think of are the ones who we defeated." He turned to face Sango, Kirara, Kagome, and Shippo. "The Shichinintai, remember?"

The name brought a bitter taste to everyone's mouth as memories of the seven man band of murdering mercenaries came flooding in. Their names, facial features, and their maniacal laughs still existed as they thought about them. Their leader, the youngest and strongest Bankotsu. Second in command and strategist Renkotsu. Third in command, Jakotsu, who hated women but had a weird taste in men. Ginkotsu, Mukotsu and Kyokotsu, who were just there but also a pain in the neck; all of them were dangerous and to think that they might be lurking in the shadows was making them tremble.

"I kind of want to hide under my bed with the blankets over my head now," Shippo proclaimed, thrusting his head under Kagome's little green flap that fell behind her back.

"We all do Shippo-chan," Kagome admitted. She turned to Inuyasha. "Do we keep going?"

He only glared at the sky with a hardened look as his first reply.

"Yeah. We've come this far."

~O~O~O~O~O~

After a while, the braided boy stopped tailing Sesshoumaru, and looked behind him. Even after he had died, his senses were always high. And right now, he knew someone, or a group of something was coming in his direction. He licked his lips as he sat down on a rock and smelled the blood on his body. He had almost killed everyone in the village just to lure that pathetic dog hanyou out. He grinned. After all this time, he learned a bit of tactics from Renkotsu.

Then the smirk was wiped away. He was the one who took Renkotsu's life away. Revenge only laid in his hands now. But even though he wasn't smiling, his eyes gleamed with joy as he thought of ways to torture Inuyasha and the group. They deserved it after all… for killing him and his brothers.

He cackled as he planned his next target. The next one would be Sesshoumaru, Koga, Inuyasha's "friends", Inuyasha himself, and finally Naraku for fooling him with his petty and dirty tricks. They'll all pay with their lives he so wanted in return.

And just as he expected, Inuyasha landed before him with his pathetic woman and his pathetic companions. He sneered in disgust as he brought Banyruu out of the dirt and pointed the end of it at him. "Yo, Inuyasha. Has it been another ten years since I saw you or what?"

"You half dead corpse. You don't know when to sleep, do you?" Inuyasha growled, cracking his knuckles and drawing out his strengthened Tessaiga.

Bankotsu grimaced. Even Inuyasha's sword, which he once almost destroyed with his own, had gained even more abilities. How he was going to kill Inuyasha, he had no apparent clue. He blocked a savage attack from the fang as he thought of ways to give himself an advantage. He thought several times as using Kagome, the girl wearing the green skirt as a hostage, but that would make him even more reckless.

He punched Inuyasha in his guts before slipping away into the forests, ashamed that he couldn't fight him there. But who said thinking was never part of the battle? Yes, he was going to hide in the branches, watching that disgusting hanyou walk into an area without his friends assisting him. And when he was near enough for him to slit his throat, he'll tear his head off with the blade he held with his claws.

But he suddenly tensed and turned around. A girl, very much alike to Mika, the same girl that he had met earlier was beside him again.

"Hello."

He bit his lip at the creepiness that seeped out of the girl. "What do you want?"

"It is not me you want… but my sister, right? My sister?"

What this girl was talking about, he had no idea. _Kids these days… mumbling about random stuff._ He flinched when she wrapped her arms around Bankotsu and then spoke in an awkward sweet voice. "My papa?"

"Huh?"

"Show yourself, Bankotsu—"

He pushed aside the girl into the bushes as Inuyasha dashed next to him. "Tch," he said, shaking from the touch of the girl's delicate hands. His plan was ruined.

"You coward," Inuyasha said. "Why don't you just crawl back into your hole?"

The small girl got to her knees and raised her hands to her face. "I want my papa!!!" She threw her hands back onto the floor, where her fingers gripped stones sharp enough to pierce paper. With a violent expression, she stood up and screamed at Inuyasha. "I hate you!!!"

The rocks piled onto Inuyasha as he was distracted. Bankotsu fled, wondering if the girl was doing this on purpose. He turned around and spotted Inuyasha grabbing her wrist and flinging her back to the ground to make her stop the rampage of stones. He heard the hanyou's pounding footsteps in a desperate chase to get to him but Bankotsu got lucky and was soon out of sight.

~O~O~O~O~O~

If there was a woman in your arms, with blood seeping through some invisible opening in her body that dribbled down to the grass, what would you do? Even if you were a daiyoukai, in this case, a son of one of the strongest and most influential youkai, what should you do? The only thing Sesshoumaru could do in this situation was panic while staying composed on the outside, like a broken shell of a doll.

Mika was hard to carry too, because the warm liquid wouldn't stop coming, her face was pale, and the more that came out, the heavier and slippery she became. Even though his stamina was not even beginning to fail and the scent of the corpse was no longer tailing him, he set her down in the grass. At once, a flush of relief colored her face.

He opened his mouth for a sentence that began with her name. "Mika," he said, "are you sure you aren't…"

"I'm sure," she said. She tried to work her muscles into a smile but the frown stayed put. "I have to be strong, _d-darou_?"

Sesshoumaru lowered his eyelashes, covering his golden circles that were speckled with whites and reached out to touch her face. "Don't be."

"Yes I do," she insisted. But he could feel her tensing muscles relax when his hand was laid on her cold face.

"Where's Yukuro?"

_That snake herbalist,_ he thought in his head. His eyes examined her state, helping his decision become clearer. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll go find her for you."

"R…Really?"

He brushed his hand slightly on her face before leaving, as a gesture for her to stay put and began to leave toward the green bushes, toward where Bankotsu and Inuyasha were currently in. And Sesshoumaru knew his rotten half brother was there; his sense of smell was after all, perfect in every sense. He knew what had occurred just by the scent's waves and pressures. But… even with his perfect sense of smell, he couldn't smell the snake herbalist's scent.

Either it was the scent of lilac perfume that lingered in Kyoko's hair that hid Yukuro from pinpointing her location or the blood that was hardening on the corpse's body. But did it matter who was blocking the scent? All he needed to do was find Yukuro and drag her back here where she was needed.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Kikyo-sama!" Kohaku cried as he ran back to Kikyo, who was undressing from the miko clothes she had been forced to wear when she was performing the ritual dances. Her eyes told him that she was expecting both good news and bad. Unfortunately, it was not the latter.

"You came back, Kohaku?"

"Un," he replied. "Kikyo-sama, the grandson of the great, great grandfather that had met Midoriko is dead." And then he went on and told her the entire story, almost not including strange girl that had revealed the impersonator's identity

She nodded. "I knew as much. Any other information you gathered?"

"Not really. Just that… there was this weird girl. She had the creepiest eyes I've ever seen and she was very strange. She was asking for her sister."

"How… did she look like?"

"Eh?" He racked his brains to recall was the frightening girl's appearance was. "She had dark brown hair that fell down her shoulders and she had square bangs that meet her eyebrows. Her eyes were like hazel but you could tell they're a plain brown…"

"She must have left quite an impression on you, if you remember her so clearly." She stood up and brought the longbow to her shoulder. "Let's go and find her. I have some questions to ask her. Especially who her sister is and how she knew he was a fake."

"Oh, okay, Kikyo-sama." He quickly put away his scythe and made the villagers clear way for Kikyo's exit. As they did, Kikyo looked up and spotted a man flying in the air.

He had long silver hair and even so far away flying on his cloud, she could see he wore brilliant clothes only a noble could afford and that he was no ordinary demon.

Can you guess who he was?

~O~O~O~O~O~

_Disgusting,_ Bankotsu thought as he waded in the pool of water. It was freezing cold, but because it was so icy, it was the perfect environment for the bloody mess he created and given him to come off. The water licked and scraped the red stuff clean, but the faces and their cries weren't washed away. He sighed.

How long had it been since he felt this way? He tried to recall and came up with an empty answer. Never. Regret… was something he never felt.

"Ah well. Who cares," he told himself, fetching his clothes and donning himself with his dirtied clothes.


	53. Episode 53

Episode 60: While He Was Gone…

A nasty grin stretched across as he approached the sleeping girl. That brother of Inuyasha must have thought they were far enough for them to stop. How little did he know; after all, Bankotsu was always the fastest runner, even before he revived. He just had the ability to cover miles in a few minutes without being tired. He watched the girl's stomach rise a few centimeters before she sucked it back in a slow rhythm.

The way she was sleeping so peacefully meant that she was unaware of his presence. His footing slowed to a brisk walk as his foot dug his way through the thick grass. When he knelt down, he swung down Banryuu onto her, until the cold steel almost touched her skin. He waited for a few more seconds, gradually lowering it when just at the right time, Mika awoke.

Her brown eyes that looked like hazel when she was happy were now a pale brown. Her eyes widened as her fingers clutched bits of gravel. Bankotsu only showed his gleaming whites as he absorbed in her fear. He always loved it when they screamed.

"He'll smell your blood, won't he?" he asked. A sweat drop rolled down her cheek. She pursed her lips.

"I… don't know who you're talking about."

"Sesshoumaru," Bankotsu said.

_I knew that. I was just stalling,_ Mika thought, desperately trying to think of a way to get the blade off her shoulder. But if she made a sudden movement, he would either slice her arm off or dismantle her head by sliding the metal into her neck. What a bloody firework that would be, if he decided to do such thing.

Then all of a sudden, Bankotsu threw aside the blade. He burst into laughter and flung his finger at her.

"AHAHA!!! LOOK AT YOUR FACE! YOU WERE REALLY SCARED!" He tumbled over to his side and held his aching stomach. "You're so fun to tease!"

Mika blinked a few times before grabbing Banyruu and bonking Bankotsu with it.

"You… really scared me," she said, before hitting him a second time.

"A good scare can make you happy, you know." He sat up and threw his arm over her shoulder. "Don't worry; I'm not planning to kill you yet." A gleeful laughter followed after that.

_Why did he have to add the word yet?_ she pondered, not joining in his guffawing.

"You stink," she said, throwing his arm aside and edging away. "You smell like blood."

Bankotsu stopped laughing. "I smell of blood?"

"It's all over you. How can I not smell it?"

He glanced at her awkwardly. He had taken a bath, scrubbed really clean and she could smell it clearly? Oh well. He stood up and fetched Banryuu. "Any idea where your boyfriend is?"

"He is not my boyfriend!" she insisted, jumping up but then suddenly falling back down. She coughed and looked at her hand with the same fearful eyes she had faced toward him earlier. In the corner of his eye, he could spot a handful of red liquid dripping down her hand.

"You sick or something?"

Mika shook her head. "No. I was just…" She tried to laugh and wiped the blood onto her white kimono top before getting back onto her feet. Where was Sesshoumaru? He'd said he be back. Did he abandon her?

"MIKA!"

She spun around, but a hand grabbed her shoulder, halting her action. But from the tone and the voice, she knew it was Yukuro. She hurried to listen for more footsteps, for that would give evidence that Sesshoumaru was there, but only the wind passing through the tree was the other sound.

The snake herbalist was covered in mud and there were sticks in her hair. That meant she had recently been running through harsh land to meet her. She patted her head and stroked her silvery wisps of hair in an effort to calm her down. Bankotsu stood there with the blade on his shoulder before glaring Yukuro with angry eyes.

"Seriously, do you really like me that much? Am I really that good looking?"

Yukuro's face turned red from embarrassment, but Mika couldn't tell if she was embarrassed and mad, or embarrassed and blushing because she actually had a crush on him. Her hand left Mika's shoulders as her other one curled up into a fist. "You're ugly as a pine cone!"

"Huh, that's what you say. You keep following me."

"I ONLY FOLLOWED YOU BECAUSE I WAS WORRIED ABOUT MIKA!"

Mika grinned and slapped her hand onto Yukuro's back. "Yukuro, if you don't admit it soon, he'll be stolen!"

"I'M TELLING YOU, I HATE HIS GUTS! I MEAN COME ON, HE'S A KILLER!!!"

As the words came out of her mouth, Yukuro bit her tongue and gave herself a mental scolding. She had to say the wrong things that ruined the mood. She had to push away the lemons life gave her. She shut her eyes and then reopened them in slits to see if Bankotsu was mad.

He was. It was obvious he was trying to keep his identity a secret to use it for other purposes. Now that Mika knew, he couldn't very well kill the people he wanted to, now could he? After all, Mika was connected to Sesshoumaru, and Sesshoumaru was connected to a lot people he wanted to make sure they perished off the face of the earth.

Banyruu was facing the floor as he gawked at Mika like some sort of prey. His eyes were full of malice and his hands were clutching his blade very tight. The creepy aura that he kept hidden now was leaking like a balloon full of air with a hole at its side.

Yukuro's hands fled to her face in some sort of fury as she hid behind Mika. "OH GOSH I'M SO SORRY MIKA! I HAD TO OPEN MY BIG MOUTH…"

Without any words, Bankotsu thrust his gigantic sword at Mika, who dodged it successfully and pushed Yukuro aside to a tree to safety. However, a rock, which seemed to be there in the worst scenarios, was right behind her. Mika's left foot had to kick it and she had to fall not backwards but onto her stomach. As she struggled to push herself off the floor, a horrifying shadow of his blade towered over her.

"Wait, wait. Don't—"

But it was too late. He brought it down and Mika's head went flying off—

_You can't do it._

"MIKA!" Yukuro screamed.

_It's just a dream. You can't kill her._

The blood, he could taste it on his tongue. His eyes rolled over to Yukuro, whose face was thin with dread. He returned to look at the girl, whose body was full of blood exits. He loved blood. It was so easy to find. He cackled as a certain thought ran through his mind. Mika was gone. She was finally gone!!!

_Don't you want to see me papa? Don't you want to see me? Hee hee…_

The voice stopped talking and only the childish laughter filled his brain.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Kikyo had to stop and rest. She told Kohaku that there was something ominous; something so menacing it was putting Midoriko's soul to halt. This caused Kikyo's fake, clay body to stop functioning, so before they could cover any more land, they sat down on huge stones as replacement for chairs and called it a day.

However, after Kohaku finally found a comfortable spot on the bumpy rock, a man with hair that fell down to his knees stood before them. The moonlight was a poor source of light and even though it was clear he was youkai, the way he wore so much white, he practically was the moon itself. His clothes were very stylish and probably very rare and expensive. A noble, obviously. And Inuyasha's older brother.

There was the usual silence before a certain five word sentence was heard. "Inuyasha's dead miko, aren't you?"

Kohaku hurried to Kikyo's defense. "Kikyo-sama isn't anyone's miko," he countered. But Sesshoumaru ignored him. Probably because he was so inferiorly tiny compared to the towering daiyoukai.

"It's all right, Kohaku. It's reality." She turned to face Sesshoumaru with unexpected difficulty. "What is do you want?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes were exactly directed at Kikyo's, Kohaku observed. He was actually looking to the side, as if he was reluctant in what he was going to ask. Then all of a sudden, his tense posture was suddenly become a bit more composed. Did he gather enough courage?

"…The air."

"What about the air?" Kohaku and Kikyo said at the same time.

A tingling sensation ran through their bodies, even though Sesshoumaru was the only one that was alive.

"It's suffocating."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"APOLOGIZE!!!"

Her fingers were cold against his neck. So very cold. She was a good strangler, if only there was a job to pursue such as that. He couldn't breathe. He reached up and tried to strangle her, but she had long, slender arms. She was very heavy too. Her black hair was tickling his face… so distracting…

"SAY YOU'RE SORRY! SAY IT! SAY IT, SAY IT, SAY IT, SAY IT!!!"

He coughed as a few breaths of the chilly air that didn't even rival to her touch escaped his throat. He could feel his life ending already. How short it was.

Then, he felt her muscles contract. He felt her hands leaving his neck, the air hurrying to supply his lungs with air. He gasped long breaths as he watched Mika through squinted eyes. In the moonlight, her face was milk white and for a moment he thought her eyes were really golden. Then all of a sudden, a tear trickled down her cheek. She sniffed and began to cry.

_Ugh… she's so heavy…_ he thought as she cried. He scowled. Crying was the only good thing girls could do.

_I told you, you couldn't kill her. It was just a stupid dream, after all, wasn't it papa? Hee hee! Why don't you talk to her papa? Don't you want to talk to her? Hee hee!_

The voice was neither girl nor boy. But Bankotsu was certain it was annoying. It was ordering him what to do? In any case, Mika's crying was bothering him anyway. _Might as well go speak with her,_ he thought grudgingly. He sat up and took a seat beside her.

"You apologize," he said, looking away. "I won't talk to you if you don't."

Mika's mouthed "I'm sorry", but Bankotsu didn't hear a thing. So he grabbed her wrist hard and flung it up and down as a gesture for her to speak up. Mika ended up yelling her apology at him. Then she removed his fingers from her wrist and ran away, leaving crystal like teardrops behind as a reminder of what had happened.

_I did it again… I hurt someone again!!! Why do I always do this,_ Mika wondered as she ran into the deep forests again. She always ran… avoiding her problems that were behind her, chasing her like a ravenous wolf. She wished she was stronger. That way, no one would be hurt, and no one would be blamed…

Then at that moment, a disturbing question arose in her mind. Something that she, now a miko would have never dreamt of doing.

Had she killed before?

Had she, a skinny girl possibly pregnant or sick with a disease incurable, was capable of killing in the past? Had she ever destroyed a dream, took away a child's smile, painted her hands red? She howled in fear of the answer, howling to the cold moon that was always there to listen to people's problems, but never there to soothe them.

When she was finally done sobbing and releasing her sorrows in the form of salty water, she slept, seeking refuge in the nightmares that had come back. Throughout the night, she endured those ghoulish images and the fake blood that was spilled the subconscious area of her mind. She endured to find the truth hidden in her past. She endured to see what answer she could find by searching herself.

But only the puzzling boy's smile was shown. The knife, the icy liquid flowing down her throat, and the girl crying because she took away her lover. Only the wounds she had scratched onto the man she was looking for the missing three years of her life surfaced.

So she woke up eventually, waking up cold, her nose red, and her eyes dry. She hated to be alone, and yet, she hated human company.

Why was her life so meaningless? What was she living for? Why was she so lost?

"Sesshoumaru… please come back soon," she whispered, clinging to herself.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"You seriously don't know how to talk to girls, don't you?" Yukuro said after she found out that Mika was not dead and that she had only stubbornly run away.

"So?" Bankotsu countered, just as obstinate as Mika would have said. "It was her fault."

Yukuro felt a vein break in the middle of her forehead as she flung a rock at him. "No, you're the one who attacked us first!"

"And you're the one who has a crush on me," Bankotsu teased. Yukuro screamed and clutched her hair in frustration. Men were so difficult to talk too!

Bankotsu gave her a smug smirk. "See, you're blushing."

"I AM NOT!" She covered her face with her hands and began to grit her teeth together. _Calm down Yukuro, he's just being a jerk. You have to be cool. Cool… yes… that's the word…_

"Look, it's a butterfly!"

Yukuro rolled her eyes. [/i]This boy is hopeless.[/i]

"Um…"

The both of them like some couple turned around at the same time to find that Mika had come back after all. She was blushing, but not as an angry beet red like Yukuro. Maybe it was because of her recent behavior.

"I'm sorry," she said, bowing. As she rose up, she held out a shaking hand. "Let's start over again! I'M HASHI MIKA!"

"Uh… yeah… um…"

She blinked twice before Yukuro whispered in his ear to tell him to shake hands with her. He winced and shook her finger. Then he let go and didn't say no more. Yukuro shoved his shoulder as a warning that if he didn't tell her his name she would kill him with her vicious venom fangs.

"The name's Bankotsu," he growled. Mika nodded her head up and down as she jumped for joy.

"It's a really cute name Bankotsu!"

"Well too bad, I don't think it's cute," he said, not buying her compliment. Yukuro sided with Mika as she agreed by shrugging her shoulders.

"I know, huh. What kind of mom would name their child "Bankotsu" anyway? It's such a weird name," she said.

"Hmmph. Whatever you say stalker."

Mika patted Yukuro's head and grinned. "Yeah stalker. You better fess up and tell him that you love him before some girl steals him away!"

Yukuro brushed away her hand and glared at her with a cherry colored face. "I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM! GEEZ; CAN'T YOU DROP THE SUBJECT???"

Only a handful of laughter came from the two, who seemed like childhood friends having a reunion after ten years.

~O~O~O~O~O~

A familiar green imp followed a two headed beast carrying a small girl donned in an orange kimono, with sweat dripping all over the floor that came from him. He was doing his best to lead, but instead, they were leading him. What in heavens would his lord think if he saw them right at this moment? Jaken shuddered to imagine the horrible punishments Sesshoumaru would hand over to him for being so embarrassingly unbearable.

Rin on the other hand, was not being particularly annoying, cheerful, or just there today. She was gloomy and quite silent, which worried Jaken. Little girls around the age of seven should be hyperactive even in the worst situations. If they weren't… well then, there might be something terribly wrong with them.

Fortunately, Rin was not stricken ill by some epidemic and was quite healthy this week. She simply didn't feel like singing, dancing, and occasionally tripping Jaken because of his stupidity. Today, she just wanted to meet up with Sesshoumaru as soon as possible and well… the girl that somehow followed them too. What was her name? Rin pondered for a while until Mika's face popped up.

"Ah! Mika-san!" she blurted, immediately bursting with joy. She clapped her hands and hopped off of Ah-Un. "Ne, Jaken-sama! Where's Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Jaken gave out a compressed sigh of relief, sort of glad that she was starting to regain back her liveliness. "Sesshoumaru-sama is on an important duty I'm sure. He'll come back soon, as long as we keep going straight without any detours."

But then, after a few hours of heading straight, in the end they stood at the edge of a barren cliff that was barely even sustaining its weight of rocks and stone. Jaken decided then that a small turn wouldn't hurt.

However, (and this is a big however), after making a right for eight miles, they landed into a human village that was currently being rebuilt as a stone fortress by thieves and rebels that invaded the town. Smoke and debris escaped through the pipes that the disgusting humans were creating. Dogs howled and barked as several young women that were left alive purposely for an inappropriate purpose entered the town through a large wooden gate.

"Simply horrifying," Jaken stated as they hid in a circle of three trees and two bushes acting as camouflage. He pushed the leaves back together to create a natural effect and scuttled back to a kneeling Rin. "Do humans do this all the time?"

"Do what?" Rin asked, her innocent voice giving off a vibe that she had no idea of what humans did in their short lives.

"Make iron and drag women around for dogs to smell?"

"Jaken-sama, look! It's a butterfly!"

Jaken sighed. At times, he wished Rin wasn't a child. After all, she had such a short attention span.

Then, he felt a punch on his head. A very hard punch. He spun around.

"AH—AH, AH!!! Se-Sesshoumaru-sama! What are you doing here? I thought—"

Apparently, the dog daiyoukai thought too.

"I thought I told you to keep Rin away from places like these?"

"Uh… um… no, I'm afraid you—"

"Stop talking back to me and let's go," he said, changing the subject.

And awkwardly, he didn't give him another punch. _That means something must be on his mind… if he forgot,_ Jaken deducted. He wondered if it was that girl. She wasn't with him at the moment.

"Jaken, come over here," Sesshoumaru said.

Obediently, he hurried over and guess what his kind lord gave him—

A hurl over in the trees and a punch in the noggin.


	54. Episode 54

Episode 61: The Vampire Thingy

"I'm bored," Mika complained as she and Yukuro followed Bankotsu into the mountains. He turned around and stated a well known fact.

"No one asked you to follow me."

Mika gleamed. "Yay… its heaven!" She collapsed and began drooling over the floor.

On the other hand, Bankotsu and Yukuro kneeled and watched as Mika dreamily babbled about candy and sugar canes. Bankotsu poked her head and slapped her arm, but it was clear Mika was dehydrated.

So, they took a break at a spring that popped out of nowhere. It seemed that Japanese terrain was quite suited for every occasion. For example… if you were in a situation that included a bad man chasing after your money, there would be a well placed rock in the middle of nowhere to trip you. Once you tripped and the bad man was about to take your bag, the hero would come. Or if you were hungry, you had to be starving until you reached a hut full of generous people that served you rice that actually had been spoiled five years ago. But you were so hungry; you died of happiness after the meal.

Mika lapped the water as much as she could. She drank and drank like a brute and then when she was done, she fell onto her back and let a breath of relief come out. "Ahh…"

~O~O~O~O~O~

Her bag was empty.

"Kagome-chan, what happened to your things?" Sango asked as they all stood around her flimsy yellow backpack that was usually bursting with broken seams and bulges that reminded Kagome that there were her heavy books that needed to be taken out.

"It looks like those flat wheel-thingamajiggies," Inuyasha said, kneeling down and sniffing the crumbs of the crisps that Kagome had brought.

A line of clothing, which included her underwear, her pajamas, a sleeping bag, some more undergarments, and her hair bands led into the forests.

"I assume a thief snuck into our campsite while we were searching for food," Miroku said professionally. Kagome only gave him a suspicious weak smile. Her eye twitched. Her fingers were clenched into a fist. Her legs stood two inches from each other.

"I bet Inuyasha did it," Shippo said in his as-a-matter-of-fact voice.

Then it came. The scream that only erupted from Kagome when she was mad about something.

"AHHH!!!" Her hands flew to her hair. "INUYASHA OSUWARI!!!"

"WHY ME?" Inuyasha cried as the charm around his neck dug him a hole.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The boy wearing a rag as a shirt and short pants looked through his collection with much interest. There were these round circles that were connected together with straps, (he had five of them), and these books that had these strange Japanese characters that he couldn't read. He had these things that had these sticks that pointed to numbers, but he didn't know they were numbers.

There were also strange metal cans, (actually aluminum) these brushes without the brushing part, flat soft paper, and boxes containing food. He ate the food, but he threw the rest of the stuff in a river.

All of a sudden he heard the splash of water. Maybe there was a human nearby… maybe a naked girl! His face blushed as perverted thoughts came into his mind, even though he didn't know they were perverted and decided he was only going to the source of the sound because he was curious.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Why do I have to take a bath, Yukuro? I took one last week," Mika explained. Yukuro shook her head as she helped Mika into the water.

"It's for _that_."

"Oh. What's _that_?"

"_THAT_ that."

"Oh, that _THAT_… why does taking a bath have to do with _THAT_?"

Bankotsu sighed as listened behind a tree. He wasn't peeking, so he wasn't being perverted, but he was curious to what they were doing so he only followed and hid behind a tree to listen… But in the end, he had no idea what _that_ meant. Maybe it had to do with the girl's mysterious coughing…

All of a sudden, he heard a rustle in the bushes. He saw a shadow of a boy who peeping at the girls. Very interested in what would happen, he picked up a rock and flung it into the river in the direction of where the boy was hiding at. It made the desired effect as he hurried away from the scene.

"AH! WHOSE THERE?" Mika screamed, her hands flying to her chest to cover the parts that are best not seen freely.

The boy gave out a cry, which was quite the wrong move, because he just gave himself away. As he did so, he stumbled backwards and tripped over a rock that was magically there, sliding into the water below. Yukuro, who was guarding the spring in the wrong direction turned her head and summoned her fellow snakes into the water to bite whoever had entered.

But as we all now, unless they are water snakes, snakes will drown and [/i]will[/i] die if you put them in water such as this. Or, that's what people back in the feudal age thought. Apparently however, that fact has proven to be true with Yukuro's snakes, for they quickly died and disappeared.

The boy, who survived the fall jumped up, his face and his hair dripping wet. His hair was black, but his skin was a pale tan color, which gave his location quite easily away too. He smiled as he realized that he had popped up in front of Mika, who was too mad to be blushing.

"Hi," he said. "You're really pretty," he added.

Mika only glared at him. Yukuro on the other side tried to get in the water, but the liquid looked very vicious to her.

The boy reached for her hands and sniffed them. "Your blood smells very good!"

Mika was not falling for his "compliments" and only flung her hands away at his touch. She backed away toward the land. The boy tried to follow, but she held out a hand while the other was doing its best to cover the parts.

"Sit…. Stay."

"Huh? But…"

Mika dashed out of the water, into the forests where she put on her clothes as fast as possible. When she was done, she ran away as hard as she could, screaming for no reason. But the boy was fast, and before she could actually move, the boy threw his arms around her neck and smelled her.

"Can you marry me?" he said. Mika shrieked at his touch and tried to push away his heavy arms.

"That's a yes right? Okay," he said as tiny, featherless black wings sprouted from his back. "Let's go home and tell _Onee_."

_Onee_? Mika felt her muscles weakening. _I have a bad feeling about this…_

~O~O~O~O~O~

When Yukuro opened her eyes, she found that she was all alone at the spring.

"M-Mika?"

No answer from an overly hyperactive girl that was kidnapped by some weird boy came; it was only silence.

"Oh no." Yukuro hurried out of the water and back into the mountains. Soon, she found the silhouette of the braided mercenary.

"Hey you!" Bankotsu turned around, his face already innocent, but Yukuro knew that he was evil and eviler than…

"Give it back! That powder thing!"

Bankotsu grinned. He pulled out a miniature bag. "You mean this?"

Yukuro nodded happily. "YES THAT! GIVE IT TO ME NOW!"

He shrugged and threw it to her. She practically skipped all the way back to the pool with the bag. Now she could revive her drowned snakes and rescue Mika from—

"Wait just a darn second…" She squeezed the bag. Her face went black. She dumped the contents out. A few coins tumbled out, no magical reviving powder.

She raced back to Bankotsu, who was now getting irritated. "What do you want now?"

"You little cheat, trying to get away with that powder!"

Bankotsu stuck his tongue at her. "Finders, keepers!"

"YOU STOLE IT!"

"Same thing."

"WHY YOU LITTLE—you want this old lady here to beat you up huh?"

"You're old?"

"NO—ARGH! JUST GIVE ME THE DARN BAG ALREADY!"

"Maybe if you kiss me," he taunted.

For a while there, Yukuro considered that, but she really hated him. Besides, he was lying. She looked up and saw that he was running away. Ugh, now she hated him even more. She thought of Mika. Horrible thoughts came into her brain. What if Mika was being tortured? What if the boy was…

_Holy mackerel_! She took a step forward and began chasing him. "GET BACK HERE!!!"

Bankotsu then came to a halt. He heard Yukuro's approaching footsteps. He needed to get rid of the bag… All of a sudden, an idea came to his head. He turned around. "Hey lady! You want the bag? Come and get it—"

But before he could fling it into the waters below, Yukuro made a blow to his stomach with his head. Like a football player she proceeded to knock him down, however there was no floor below, so they were heading straight for the water—

"AHH! WATER!" Yukuro used his head as a stepping stone and reached out for the cliff, but it was already far away. They plunged into the cold waters, which licked with spiky rocks and wood splinters.

After the rapid river current sailed them to a land poking out, right before a waterfall, Yukuro proceeded to wring Bankotsu's neck.

"WHERE IS THE BAG???"

Bankotsu punched her face to stop her from shaking him and coughed some more as he pointed to the river. "I lost it okay?"

Yukuro panicked as she ran to the edge of their tiny shore, watching the tiny purple bag containing the powder of "life" floating away. "No…" She fell to her knees. "Mika's going to die! NO! ALL BECAUSE OF ME!!!"

The braided guy was too busy slamming the water out of his ears to listen to her complaints.

"I'm so sorry Mika! I'm so sorry…" Then a more horrifying thought came to her mind. What if Mika was almost ready to deliver the baby and she didn't know? What if Sesshoumaru found out and actually got mad? What if… what if he decided slit her throat and hangs her on the trees for ravens eat?

"AHHH!!!" she screamed. She flashed Bankotsu a death glare. She began to throw rocks at him. "THIS IS YOUR ENTIRE FAULT!"

"NO IT ISN'T! I'M NOT HER DAD OR ANYTHING!"

"_URUSAI_!!! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT MIKA'S GOING TO DIE! AND IN RETURN FOR HER LIFE, I WANT _YOU_ DIE!" Now she flung sticks at him.

"S-STOP IT! OW—" he exclaimed as a snail was thrown at his face. Now, not only water was dripping from his face, but the poop that the snail had been leaving in its dump. He gagged at the smell of it and hurried to the river to wash his face. Only then, did Yukuro stop throwing things and began to hit him with her fists.

"OKAY, OKAY! I'LL GO SAVE HER, GEEZ!"

Yukuro's attitude began to change then. Her face was now of one that was grateful. She started to slap his back as if they were old friends meeting up at the bar after his girlfriend dumped him or something. "Thanks a lot man!"

He, on the other hand was exhausted. Girls were certainly handfuls… give them an inch, and they'll go a mile. He cursed Mika's name and swore he'd never get married.

~O~O~O~O~O~

It was really uncomfortable behind held like this. Especially since Mika was about to vomit. "Hey dude, can you like, put me down?" Mika asked, her head dizzy because they were actually, in reality, flying.

The boy patted her back. "No, sorry honey."

"I'm not your honey."

"Yes you are!" He giggled like a little girl as he flew down. Mika gritted her teeth. He had her over his shoulder and she could only see the back of them, not the front. So she didn't know if he was going to throw her into the sea and drown, or drop her into a big pot of soup. But instead, he brought her into a dark cave that was obviously not occupied by humans. Along the way, she spotted several skulls. All of them had teeth marks below the skull.

_Is this guy a… vampire???_ She bit her lip and shouted when she heard a voice speak out of nowhere in the darkness. It was pretty low for a woman though.

"So Jiro," the woman's voice said. Mika could smell blood from the woman's breath even though she was facing the other side.

But the woman couldn't finish the sentence, because the boy, who seemed to be the one named Jiro, was too energetic. He was happy that he found Mika, even though Mika was very unhappy, and he wanted to tell the woman was fast as possible.

"_Onee_, I want to marry this girl! She's the most beautiful girl I've seen!"

Mika knew that was a lie.

The woman laughed. "You always say that, but you end up _eating_ them in the end. Remember that princess last week?"

Jiro frowned, even though Mika didn't see. "I don't eat them, they just run away. Are you sure you didn't eat them?"

"Hahaha!" She heard the woman jump down from something and saw a large figure block the light in front of Mika.

"Hmm… you're not bad. You have a nice pelvis too, well for bearing children…"

Mika gagged. Was that all??? Plus, she didn't want to be eaten. She began to kicking and squirming, but the woman wasn't finished with her random examining in the darkness.

"All right, Onee approves of this girl. Go ahead and marry her!"

_SERIOUSLY?_ Mika's brain shouted. "Um, wait, I don't want to be married—"

"Bye bye Jiro! I hope you have a happy life with her!"

The boy seemed to nod and wave goodbye, before they disappeared into an even dark room, the light ahead slowly fading…

~O~O~O~O~O~

"So… where we go to rescue the princess in distress?" Bankotsu asked as he yawned. Yukuro shrugged her shoulders.

"If I had the powder, I could've revived my snakes and we could've found her…" she explained sheepishly. "Where do you think?"

Just then, they spotted a Mika wobbling over to a cliff. They swiftly made way to her and found out that she was not wobbling or going to commit suicide, but she was going to cry and kill herself with a sharp rock.

"What is wrong with you? We're all going to save you and you're killing yourself?"

Mika blubbered with tears as she flung the rock down the abyss below. "I'm going to get married to a vampire!"

The boy, Jiro, stuck his head out the cave and asked, "Are you ready honey?"

Mika shook her head and stood up. She took a step forward and was about to fall when Yukuro caught a hold of her. Bankotsu only sighed.

"This is stupid," he complained, but Yukuro was set on helping Mika.

"Come on, let's go kill that vampire thingy and get out of here—"

Unfortunately, Jiro was not very joyful to find that the two were trying to take away his bride.

"What are you doing to Mika?" he demanded.

Yukuro kept a firm hold on the poor girl. "That's my line, you freak! All vampires suck! So you suck, and you don't deserve to have Mika!"

The boy then burst in a bunch of laughter. He held his sides and laughed and laughed. He fell to his knees and laughed. He laughed as he lied on his back, rolling side to side while kicking the air. Bankotsu got the message and whispered it to Yukuro. An embarrassment rush was carried through all parts of her body immediately.

"You're not a vampire?" she asked, her voice barely a murmur.

"No," he said. "I'm just a bat demon!"

Bankotsu shook his head. "There's no such thing that exists…"

Yukuro nodded. "Only snakes and dogs and cats can become demons. You're a vampire."

"No, I'm a bat demon!"

"No, a freaking vampire for goodness's sakes! NOW JUST LEAVE US ALONE AND GO SUCK SOME OTHER PITIFUL MORTAL'S BLOOD!"

Mika then raised a hand, as if she were in a modern-day classroom wanting permission to speak. "Can I say something?"

Bankotsu nodded. "Go ahead."

"He's my husband."


	55. Episode 55

Episode 62: How to Crash a Wedding

"Mika, listen to me very carefully," Yukuro said, making a gesture with her index finger to emphasize the "carefully" at the end of her sentence. "Repeat after me. _This vampire thingy—_"

"I'm a bat demon," Jiro had to say.

"—_this vampire thingy_," Mika repeated.

"IS NOT MY HUSBAND!!!" Yukuro screamed. She waited to hear Mika follow her yell.

"He is my husband?" Mika whispered.

"NO!" Yukuro slapped Mika on her face and demanded her to repeat the entire sentence she had said again.

Mika rubbed her face and repeated the sentence as fast as she could. "Jiroismyhusband!"

"NO HE IS NOT! YOU ARE NOT MARRIED! YOU ARE SINGLE! REPEAT!!!" Yukuro shrieked.

"YES HE IS! I AM MARRIED! I AM NOT SINGLE!" Mika said.

Bankotsu waved a hand in the air. "It's useless. We'll have to crash the wedding."

The snake herbalist refused. She refueled her temper by slapping Mika and clearing her throat. Then she faced Jiro and threw her finger at him, as if she were pointing him as the murderer in one of Sherlock Holmes' cases. "You."

"What about me?" Jiro asked. A childish grin widened as it stretched across his face. He must have thought victory was his.

"I have a secret weapon. That weapon WILL prevent Mika from marrying you. You put a spell on her, didn't you? I know the Mika I know would never admit to marrying you!"

Mika shook her head. "But he IS my husband!"

In reply, the snake prepared to throw her down the cliff. Only then did Mika stop saying that. But her brain kept echoing it to her. _Jiro is your husband. HE is your husband._ It was painful and disgraceful, but nevertheless, a horrible spell.

After Mika was back on her feet on land, Yukuro grabbed Bankotsu's arm and pulled him in close for a quiet plan discussion.

"So, what's your secret weapon?" Bankotsu questioned. That was the first thing that arouse in his mind when Yukuro said so.

"Sesshoumaru. I'll just tell him that his girlfriend is getting engaged. Then, he'll get jealous, and then he'll follow me. Meanwhile, you get that stupid vampire angry and when Sesshoumaru arrives, he'll just cut him in half and we'll be done! "

Bankotsu shook his head. He was expecting something smart, something well planned out. Maybe it was because he was working under Master Evil Naraku before. But in any case, her plan was worse than a crybaby crying for a cracker was. "Sesshoumaru has Mika as a GIRLFRIEND? You're kidding me right?"

"HEY! I don't want to admit it, because Mika doesn't deserve that jerk, but it's obvious."

If Sesshoumaru left Mika by a tree all alone, it was OBVIOUS he didn't like her.

"Shh, I was just joking."

"Hmph. I still think my plan will work."

"No, I think if we just kill that vampire, everything will be solved. I don't want Sesshoumaru taking the spotlight," Bankotsu explained. Partially, he just wanted to leave and he didn't care anything about Mika's predicament. But then again… he hadn't taken a life in a long time. And that bat demon vampire thingy was annoying to no end.

Just then, they thought they heard a sound. Something like clothing being draped across rock. The two turned away from their little discussion for a while only to find that Mika was being led back inside the cave. With a maniacal panic, Yukuro tried to stop Jiro, but the darkness scared her. In the end, Mika disappeared in the black cave, with a cowardly snake youkai standing in the entrance waiting for a hero to come. Because she was certainly not fit to be one.

"You're so useless," Bankotsu commented as she stood in front of the cave with her. Yukuro grimaced.

"Uh huh. So why don't you go in? Aren't you a man?"

"I have a right not to go in and save her."

"Ha, you're just as useless as I am." Yukuro sat down. "I keep telling you, Sesshoumaru's the only way out of this."

"Hmmph, I don't agree. I still say we should crash the wedding."

"Well what are you waiting for?"

"What are YOU waiting for?"

The two blinked at each other before dismissing their fears and walking inside the pitch dark cave.

~O~O~O~O~O~

A green imp watched as Sesshoumaru walked around and around in circles. He was obviously bothered by something. So he jumped down from a rock he had been sitting on and ran up to his lord. Clenching his staff for protection, he asked nervously, "What is bothering Sesshoumaru-sama I ask?"

Sesshoumaru had to admit, something was irritating. "I believe I forgot something," he said.

_Sesshoumaru-sama forgot something? Impossible,_ he thought. "Do you know if it's a person or a thing?"

The daiyoukai thought he sensed laughter from a certain hanyou brother in the distance. He shut his eyes. "A person."

"May I suggest something?"

"Go ahead."

"Perhaps it's the girl that came with us. I think her name was Misa or something…"

At once Sesshoumaru remembered. He had left Mika by the tree. He reopened his eyes. How embarrassing! He had forgotten. Oh well. The girl was rid of now. He didn't have to be a father after all. Maybe she wasn't even pregnant. "Never mind, it's a thing."

"Oh, I see. Then… are we leaving anytime soon?"

"Do you want to leave?" he asked his glare strong as ever. Jaken shook his head, his body quivering.

"NO; NOT AT ALL, MY LORD! I WAS JUST ASSUMING THAT YOU WERE ANNOYED AND THOUGHT THAT WALKING OFF WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA! I DON'T MIND STAYING HERE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!"

Just then Rin yawned. It was probably the loudest yawn you could hear from a child. Unluckily, there was no Guinness World Records back then. "I'm bored Sesshoumaru-sama, can we go somewhere else?"

Immediately, as if he was in danger of exposing his absent mind activity, he began walking ahead with Ah-Un carrying Rin following. The little turned in her seat and called out to the imp who was standing there as if he were constipated. "Jaken-sama! We're leaving you behind!"

_I knew it. It's that girl bothering Sesshoumaru-sama. Something must have happened if he's this irritated…_

~O~O~O~O~O~

"AHH! WHAT TOUCHED MY ARM???"

Bankotsu punched Yukuro's face as he explained it was he for the fifty-fifth time. "Shut UP!!!"

"WHO TOUCHED ME AGAIN? AHHHH!!! I'm SCARED!!!"

The braided boy raised his hand to touch his head. As he shook it, he thought he was going to die in this place with a snake that freaked out every minute she felt something, even if it was her hair. As he walked in this long hallway of black and nothing but black, he thought he stepped on poop. He jumped up and hit his head on the ceiling of rocks and pebbles. As he landed on his bottom against a spiky wall he thought he felt skulls. Being short had its problems.

"Ow… AHH! WHAT TOUCHED ME???"

"It's me you dummy," Yukuro said. "Where are you? WHERE ARE WE?"

"I don't know! This was your idea!"

"I'm going to turn back—OW! Is this a rock?"

"It's my head!!!"

"Oh, sorry. I can't see anything!"

"Well, you're a snake. Aren't snakes supposed to be able to see in the dark?"

"I can see heat, and you're the only thing that's warm."

"Well, there must be something else that's hot. Stop touching my nose!!!"

"Sorry!" Yukuro stood up, raising her hands in the air. As she stretched out, as if she were reaching for the sky, she felt the ceiling. It was pretty low. Then she put then down and began walking ahead, like how a zombie would walk in old American movies. However, before she could take a second step, her hands touched something soft and round. She squeezed and fell back, slamming into Bankotsu who had just gotten to his feet.

He grabbed Yukuro's head and demanded what was wrong, but a woman's voice answered instead. It was low, so they deducted that she must be several times older than them. They had been found!

"What's wrong? The thing that's wrong is that you're trespassing in someone's home! Now scram and go home, you little human kids!"

"I'm not a kid," Bankotsu pointed out.

"And I'm not a human," Yukuro added.

Then, all of a sudden, the cave became bright. Their surroundings became light's pet again. But now that they saw the massive amount of human skulls, not to mention many snake skins, boar tusks, mouse droppings, little toes of children, and several ripped up kimonos that the "vampires" must have scavenged after a village was invaded, they wished it was dark again.

About the only thing that was pleasant there however were the fruits that were scattered like a feast all around then. Bankotsu took a look at his sandal and discovered a squished tomato was decorating the sole. There were bananas, apples, oranges, watermelons, mangoes, tomatoes, pears, peaches, cherries, and a lot of white lilies for the "wedding".

The woman before them was just about little clothed as the boy named Jiro, giving them the appearance of robbers or beggars. The little short hakama she wore was now a faded red, leaving only a tasteless brown in return. It didn't even reach her knees. On her upper torso, she wore some sort of sleeveless fur shirt with a collar that was very uncommon in the parts of Japan. The shirt was cut off before it reached her belly button, giving them a perfect view at her perfectly kept abs.

Her face was of disdain, while her wild red hair piled onto her head like tangled cotton. Her eyes were black, just as the cave had been, but if only she was smiling would she be gentler looking. A beautiful woman hidden behind not makeup, but dirt and a clutter of fruits.

"Well you know what? I don't care. And if you won't get out," she continued, gesturing to skulls with her right thumb, "you might end up as these guys."

"No thank you. I'm tired of being skulls and bones," Bankotsu said. "All we want is that girl that boy of yours kidnapped."

The woman stood there with a menacing look before she chuckled. "Oh, that human girl? Her name was Misa or something right?"

"Mika," Yukuro corrected.

"Why'd you want that girl? She's getting married to my brother and I wouldn't think crashing their wedding is a nice idea."

As Yukuro argued, Bankotsu slipped his hand under the hilt of his blade that he had been hiding behind their silhouettes. When the two women got to a point where they disagreed, he pulled it out and flung his arm at the woman. Of course, this action deemed them as hostile in the eyes of Jiro's older sister.

"Bankotsu!" Yukuro cried out when she was knocked away due to the impact of the blow.

The last image she saw was the woman attacking Bankotsu, her mouth open and her fangs dripping with venom. She heard something like "get going you stupid _hebi_" and then she was off.

"You better not die, you half-dead corpse. I still haven't gotten my revenge!" Yukuro yelled as she headed deeper in the cave.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When Mika awoke, she found herself in a bathtub filled to the brim with rose petals and soap. The bubbles covered her entire body except her face. The water was cold, however, and helped the spell that was cast on her wear off. She stood up, only to find that her wrists were chained and so were her ankles. Lonely, she sat back down, a tear trickling her cheek.

At times like these, she sort of wondered who she was and sometimes where Sesshoumaru might be. She would imagine him strutting down a field of grass with Jaken and Rin following obediently everywhere. There was no room for her. Never was there.

The room she was in was horribly lighted, with only a candle wick hanging next to a door. The rest of the room was dark. She sighed. Why did she always get stuck in dark situations?

_I wonder if Sesshoumaru might come save me,_ she wondered, knowing that since he never came back after leaving her there by the tree he wouldn't do so now. She reached out and held her feet together and closed her eyes. Perhaps taking a nap would chase away the loneliness she had so desperately tried to get rid of.

But… before she could have a peaceful dream about skipping in a flower field, the door opened.

"W-who's there?" Mika asked, daring to turn around.

"It's me," Bankotsu said, and then she yelled.

"NO! DON'T LOOK!" she cried, trying to drown her into the bubbles.

"I already did—"

And then Mika began to throw the bubbles at him. Luckily, they evaporated before they could even touch his skin.

"Women…" he groaned as he grabbed her wrist. "All right, let's get out of here."

"No!"

"Okay, you said no. That means you don't want to be saved, right? So—"

"That's not what I meant! I don't want to run around naked!"

Oh, he had enough now. He flung her wrist down and grabbed the tub and turned it over. The bubbles disappeared as they popped one by one. Then he ran over, slammed his hand at the chains and threw her over his shoulder. As she punched his back, because she was facing the other way, he walked out of the door and hurried to run out.

But he had to run into Yukuro, who was blushing beet red, even though she was a woman.

"YOU!!!"

"Huh?" Bankotsu asked, halting to a stop.

"YOU PERVERT! HOW COULD YOU BE HOLDING MIKA LIKE THAT??? AND NAKED TOO???" She jumped next to him and punched his chin with an uppercut. As Mika fell to the floor, she gently took off one of her extra kimonos and gave it to Mika.

"You men seriously don't know how delicate women are! Disgusting!"

Bankotsu turned around to face her. He was just as mad as Yukuro. "Well, how could I help it? You said we had to get out of here as fast as we could!"

"You could've used something to cover her at least! I mean, it's okay for boys to be running around topless, but you know women are different!"

"Hey, I don't want to be running around shirtless!"

"Well that's just too bad!"

"Hmph!"

"Hmph to you!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

And so, that was how they wasted time when they could be escaping. They wasted about twenty minutes, just enough time for Jiro to come by and pick up Mika from the scene and walk away. By the time they could even stop giving themselves death glares, they failed in their mission to rescue Mika from the wedding.

"Where… did Misa go?" Bankotsu asked.

"IT'S MIKA I TELL YOU! And it's also YOUR FAULT SHE'S GONE AGAIN!!!"

Bankotsu groaned. "Oh please, you're the one starting useless arguments. It's not my fault your daughter got taken away."

"She's not my daughter; she's just someone who I am very worried about!" She pouted and folded her arms. "I still think getting Sesshoumaru was the best idea."

"Then go get him."

"Eh?" Yukuro watched Bankotsu rise up to his feet and stretch.

"I'll try to find her. Meanwhile, just go ahead and fetch him already. I'm tired and I just want to go back to sleep."

"I thought zombies don't sleep."

"Well, in my case I do." He spun around and grabbed Banryuu. "See you later alligator."

"I'm a snake."

"Whatever. Just take a joke once in a while, okay?" And with that, he finally ran off in the direction where they had left Mika sitting and then got kidnapped.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Mika didn't want to wear a large kimono with colors flying all over the place. She also didn't want her hair being pulled in different directions and then stuck together in one mess to be named a hairstyle. She didn't wish to wear lipstick that came off everytime she talked. And she hated those shoes you had to wear. And the veil that covered her face had to be black, as if she had to go to a funeral. She didn't even understand for a veil to be there in the first place.

And to watch Jiro do the makeup and watch her dress was very embarrassing. He could have at least left her to dress on her own; but no, he had to take off the kimono himself and force her into itchy clothes his older sister had stolen. He also kept looking at her with a very ravenous look, making her know that he was just hungry. She knew she was going to be eaten anytime soon.

She wanted to reach up to her hair and pull each one of them out in frustration. She wanted to yell… she didn't want to be a bride. She looked to the door, hoping to find Sesshoumaru there, waiting to save her… which was so unlikely.

"Okay Onee! She's ready!"

The woman strolled in and laughed in glee. "Ah, Misa-chan, you look lovely!"

Mika scratched at her neck and arms. "The clothes are so itchy!"

"Ah, it's good for training. _Bites_ are itchier than that."

Mika thought when the woman said bites; she thought there were fleas in the clothes. She hurried to look at the sleeves and the inside of the fabric. But Jiro pulled her to her feet before she could check anything.

"All right Misa-chan, we'll have the wedding here. I called Mom and Dad, so they should be coming anytime soon."

"Great, Onee! I bet Mom and Dad is going to be so happy!"

Mika shook her head. Where else are they going to have the wedding? At the ocean? These two siblings were worse than Yukuro and Bankotsu's pointless conversations.

And the thing is; they had the wedding outside of the cave. They got out by another hidden passage way, because Jiro's sister suspected Yukuro and Bankotsu were still inside the cave. It turned out to be leading into another forest, which seemed even more dangerous than the "vampires" did. By the entrance of the cave where bones, where two stones inscribed messily with the characters "Mom" and "Dad" lay.

"Okay, you two are married!" Jiro's sister announced as soon as they got out. Mika could only stare blankly in the air. But she screamed when she heard what his sister said next.

"You may kiss the bride Jiro!"

"Okay Onee!" He reached out to grab her shoulders and leaned in. "You're so pretty, Misa-chan!"

"BEFORE YOU MARRY ME, GET MY NAME RIGHT!!!" she hollered, pushing him away.

"I love you, Misa-chan!"

"WELL I DON'T!!!"

In the corner of her eye, she noticed the sun was setting. She gulped. It was already half hidden by the mountains. What that meant, she didn't know. She just had a feeling that night would play an important role—

Jiro just then missed and kissed her cheek. She kicked him in a spot that really hurt and ran away, back into the cave, only to come back out because it was dark. She panicked and tried to run back inside, but she was so scared. In the end, she could only face the cave with fear gnawing at her feet.

"M-Mika... why…did you kick my—"

"LALALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" She slammed her hands over her ears but someone pulled them off. It was Bankotsu and there were actually tears running down his cheeks.

"You… kicked… my nuts…"

Mika blinked and peered over his shoulder. Jiro was apparently out too. His sister was busy trying to wake him up. The bride was confused. "I thought I kicked him."

"You slapped him and you kicked me."

"How did you get over here so fast?"

"Don't ask…" He fell to his knees and began pounding the dirt. "You… kick… really hard… I'm just glad I wasn't the one slapped."

"Heh… heh."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Standing on a rock increased Rin's height about five times. And it was a pretty well picked out rock too, about three feet high. Jaken begged her to come down, but she was so happy. So Sesshoumaru only stood there, watching like an unworried parent.

All of a sudden, the child announces something to her companions.

"Oh, Jaken-sama! I see someone running to us!"


	56. Episode 56

Episode 63: How to Crash a Wedding II

She was running very fast. Actually, she was sprinting. Her feet were so fast, only afterimages were left. Her lips were in an O-shape, as if she was about to smooch someone and her hands were straight as sticks. Like a train, they went up and down alternatively at the same time her legs took a step forward. In seconds after Rin announced the woman coming in their way, she was right in front of them.

By the telltale of her costume, which consisted of a plain white kimono top with very long sleeves that extended down to her knees, (for the outer kimono coat she had been wearing she lent to Mika), a green obi with a golden belt and a lighter shade of purple hakamas, it was Yukuro. Plus, her red lips, green eyes, and small nose very uncommon, so it wasn't a fake Yukuro.

She halted, her hands gripping her hakama as she took in deep breaths. In between the breaths, she coughed. Soon, she gathered enough energy to speak. But instead, she took run again, all the way to Sesshoumaru, where she reached out and grabbed Sesshoumaru by the collar of his kimono top. She shook him side to side and began to say in her echoing loud voice:

"YOU STUPID IDIOTIC JERK GOOD FOR NOTHING MAN!!! WHERE ARE YOU WHEN MIKA NEEDS YOU? WHAT KIND OF GUY ARE YOU TO MIKA? I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE IS HAVING YOUR CHILD! WHY DID YOU LEAVE MIKA BY THE TREE? WHY DIDN'T YOU EVER COME BACK? WHY SESSHOUMARU? WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID???"

"Stop shaking me," Sesshoumaru said, removing her hands with his right arm. Yukuro let go and took a few steps backward, while her brain was currently sorting the mess and analyzing the conclusion she had reached for why he had left Mika by the tree and never came back. Once her brain had finished calculating the possible results, she shouted her first assumption.

"IS IT BECAUSE YOU FOUND ANOTHER WOMAN? A DAIYOUKAI PERHAPS? MAYBE THAT USELESS WILD DOG THAT FOLLOWED YOU THAT NOW IS MYSTERIOUSLY GONE? YOU DIRTY LITTLE PLAYER!!!"

Sesshoumaru was not denying anything, so that couldn't be it. Yukuro let her heart pump blood to her face, creating a red hue on her white complexion. But before she knew it, her face was now a purple.

"OH… I GET IT. YOU FORGOT ABOUT HER DIDN'T YOU??? YOU FORGOT ABOUT MIKA WHEN YOU LEFT HER BY THE TREE? YOU INSOLENT JERK!!! NOW SHE'S GETTING MARRIED UNWILLINGLY!!!"

Sesshoumaru was still not saying anything. But by the way a sweat drop trickled down the side of his cheek, Yukuro knew she had found it. She had found his guilty cause and she was going to use that excuse to bring Mika back from the underworld. But why wasn't he moving? Why wasn't he saying anything? Did he not get her message?

They waited a few more seconds before Yukuro flared her nostrils at him.

"WELL? WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE? WHY AREN'T YOU TALKING? GET YOUR BUTT OVER THERE ALREADY!!! YOU CAN SMELL YOUR WAY THERE CAN'T YOU, YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE PIECE OF TRASH THAT NOBODY WANTS, NOT EVEN A HOBO!"

To prove that the yelling and constant anger she had to put up with these worthless men all for the sake of poor Mika who didn't deserve any of them was not good for her health, she grabbed the head of the staff that Jaken was carrying. With one arm, she picked up the staff _and_ Jaken. She gawked at Sesshoumaru, threatening him with her eyes that if he didn't start moving and start saving, she was going to kill him and his servant.

Rin, who was now sitting on her three feet rock, was quite amused. This was probably the best argument she had seen so far.

"I don't care if Mika's getting married," Sesshoumaru said finally. "It was her decision, wasn't it?"

Yukuro had it. She flung Jaken, who clung to the staff for protection at Sesshoumaru, who didn't catch Jaken and let him fly right into the dirt. The staff dug itself into the earth, slamming Jaken's green toes into the rocks painfully.

"You don't care? YOU DON'T CARE???"

"Well," he began, but Yukuro had already seized his neck.

"YOU HAVE TO CARE!!! IF NOT, I'M KILLING YOU BEFORE ANYONE ELSE DOES!!!"

"You can't kill me—"

"Sesshoumaru-sama," Jaken said, squeezing his toe as if it were falling to pieces. "Please, just go rescue that human. I don't want to die!"

"That's right Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin said, getting down from the rock. She pointed a finger up to the sky. "Mika-san is waiting for you!"

The daiyoukai scowled. "Fine," he said grudgingly.

Yukuro cackled. _Behold the power of ganging up!_

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Jiro!" the sister of the bat demon, vampire thingy cried. She was over him, her hands pinching his cheeks. Mika and Bankotsu stood shocked.

"Don't die! You still have a long way to go! Misa-chan is waiting for you—"

Mika slapped Bankotsu. "No way."

"Why'd you slap me?"

"I just felt like it."

"Why you…"

All of a sudden, Jiro revived. His black eyes were once again staring upon the world, his hands and arms moving, his legs kicking and soon standing back onto the ground.

"Misa-chan—"

"MY NAME IS MIKA!" she cried, losing strength. These two siblings had a problem with names.

Then, all of a sudden, the sun was gone. At first, it did nothing. But when Jiro's eyes landed on Mika, she thought she felt the hunger was now a predator's desire. She reached up and clutched the arm of the nearest person, which was the braided mercenary, and waited for what was coming next.

Then, for once, he pronounced her name right. He shut his eyes, as if he knew Mika was suspecting something because of the glint in his eyes. Or maybe he was just tired of fooling around.

"Mika-chan, we aren't finished yet. The ceremony is still half-way done."

_He means the wedding, doesn't he,_ she thought to herself. "Um, I don't want to."

Bankotsu nudged her. "Don't "um"."

"Uh, okay… I said I don't want to marry you."

And then, he frowned. His eyes reopened, now a dark violet. He bared his fangs at her. "You don't like me do you? Just because I'm a youkai," he said. "I knew it. All humans are like that."

Mika shook her head in reply. "No, it's not that, it's just—"

Jiro opened his mouth in some sort of short laugh and charged at her. She heard the ravens cackle in the distance and fly off as the sky began to darken. He pushed away Bankotsu, her fingers leaving his arm first, before he knocked her down. She hurried to get back on her feet, but only to be pushed back down again. Was she going to be eaten?

"Mika!" Bankotsu cried, probably not even worried.

She felt her consciousness fading, her eyesight blackening as she felt something crawl up her neck. She could hear something being squeezed, or possibly being torn. Her eye rolled down. She saw Jiro's fangs piercing her neck. Maybe it was the blood crawling down her neck.

_Itchy…so very itchy…_

She knocked him away, only to have her hand scratching madly at her neck. Soon the wound was worsened as the blood was splattered onto the floor. It was so annoying, like the scar on her neck. She scratched and scratched until Bankotsu held onto her wrist, screaming words she couldn't hear. But she wanted to scratch the skin.

"Mika! Don't scratch it!"

Her eyes began to lower. She rolled her eyes to his neck, where she found a small red mark. He had been scratching too. Then finally, her eyes closed. Her heart slowing down a dying pace. Something green seeped out of her mouth as her eyes turned dull.

"Her blood is very delicious," Jiro said, as if he had just finished a meal. He reached up and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. His eyes glittered with menace. "Maybe you'll be next."

Jiro's sister laughed in the background as she walked up next to her brother. "_Ara,_ but he's mine, Jiro. All mine," they chanted.

Bankotsu raised a hand to his neck, where Jiro's sister had bit him.

_'Ha! How brave of you human, entrusting your comrade with a nice task.' The woman's eyes were not of foolishness now. Intent of evil was hidden in those black orbs, Bankotsu knew it. 'Too bad she won't be getting there with you. You know, she seemed to hold affection for you. Hee,' she said, charging at him._

But he didn't move, so Jiro's sister pushed him against a wall, the rocks trying to pierce his back. Her hand slapped his neck and she grinned.

'Your blood isn't bad at all. Shall I have a taste?' She cackled and leaned in to help herself to his blood.

However, just as the sweet, succulent liquid reached her tongue, she felt something in her stomach. She took a step backward and looked at her stomach. There was a knife placed there. She pulled it out, groaning as she threw it aside. 'How did you—'

But Bankotsu only greeted her with a smirk. He had stolen it a long time ago, when he was eating at the place in Mount Hakurei. The man and Yukuro were too shocked at their discovery, and he had slipped it into his armguard while no one was noticing him. Who knew it was so useful.

At once, the woman reverted back to a gentler form. Or rather, a scared, intimidated form. She looked up at the man with fearful eyes and choked when she thought she saw amusement in his sadistic eyes. 'You're… a monster…'

'Hm. Am I?'

'You use your "innocent boy look" to get close to people… you were going to kill that girl weren't you?'

Bankotsu's grin wasn't replaced with a frown. 'Maybe.' He thought back to the time when he actually tried to, but the situation was turned around instead.

The woman searched for the mark she had created on his neck. He wasn't making a move to scratch it. But the venom they carried was very irritable on the skin…

'Looking at that vampire bite huh?' He reached up and scratched it. 'It's itchy… not.'

'St-stay away! If you come near me—'

But she knew just staying there on the floor wasn't helping so before Bankotsu could even begin what sadistic thoughts he had in mind, she ran out the other way, gripping her neck and coughing. Bankotsu was a frightening individual.

But Jiro's sister remembered too. She bit her tongue as if doing that could take back her words. She seemed to suppress her demon instincts and reached out to touch her brother's shoulder. "Never mind. Jiro, don't go after that man."

"What harm could happen, Onee? He's just a boy," Jiro said, completely underestimating what Bankotsu was capable of doing.

"He is a demon!" she shouted. "We have to save that girl! So, don't kill—"

But Jiro was not as experienced as his sister. Besides, to him, Mika's blood so alluring. It smelled so sweet, so strong, and so very beautiful. He wanted it. He needed it. Mika was going to be a grand feast for him.

However, Jiro wasn't the only one desiring Mika's flesh and blood.

A roar echoed across small forest. Above them was a mass of celestial snakes, circling the cave. When Jiro was about to rush toward Mika who Bankotsu was supporting with his arms, one of the largest dragons descended. The impact of its heavy weight made the plateau shake. It roared again as its eyes landed on Mika.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"We're almost there—" Yukuro was about to say when Sesshoumaru looked up in the sky. "What's wrong?"

_Dragons found her here?_ His hand clutched the hilt of Tenesiga.

"The _ryuu_," he said.

"Huh? What about them?" She turned to face the bunch of snakes in the sky. "Are they particularly dangerous?"

"I awakened them," he said in his usual short explanations.

"Why?"

"They love the blood of the daiyoukai. It is rich in protein. I disturbed a breeding mother. Because Mika is…"

"The blood of a daiyoukai huh? Wouldn't they be chasing you?"

"To kill a baby before it can kill them is the best way to feast," he said, walking a few steps ahead before leaping into the air.

Yukuro raised an arm as if she could catch the daiyoukai, but only let it fall back to her side. She admired the way he stayed calm. On the other hand, she panicked at everything, not even able to really help Mika. Then, after shaking her head, she made way to the scene by sprinting madly.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When Mika's eyes awoke, she was not in the arms of Bankotsu, but in Sesshoumaru's lap. She blushed and sat up immediately, but he pushed her back down.

"S-Sesshoumaru!" she said; her intent to hide her happiness given away. Of course, Sesshoumaru only gave her a blink before turning away to face the slain dragon.

The head had been cut off, but it wasn't that easy to cut off a dragon's head. It must have been the help of Tenesiga's sword; she assumed and looked at Sesshoumaru. He didn't look back at her, but she knew he had killed it. She closed her eyes and gave a silent prayer to the dragon before telling him he was fine. But Sesshoumaru refused to let her sit up.

"Just lie still," he said, putting her down on the ground. "Don't go anywhere until I come back."

"Okay," she said, even though she doubted him coming back.

Unfortunately, Sesshoumaru had every intention of coming back. He simply wanted to "speak" to Jiro, but Jiro's sister ended up talking to him. She told him with a huge smirk on her face that he was busy crying out his man feelings. Sesshoumaru didn't buy it.

"Then again, it's quite amazing that little girl has such a cool guy protecting her," Jiro's sister said, slapping his back as if he were an old friend. The daiyoukai grimaced. Bat demons were very stupid indeed.

"You don't think otherwise?" he said.

"Otherwise?" The woman held her hand to her chin. "You mean, you didn't come here of your own will? I thought you were her brother or dad or something."

Sesshoumaru almost let his composure go and let his mouth hang. He didn't want to be related to Mika in any way, either a spouse or a sibling. He cracked his knuckles as he endured Jiro's sister's ramblings. If she wasn't planning to stop talking soon, he was going to make her. He had enough of people's chatter. He just wanted to go back to his quiet and lonely life.

"I was forced to come here," he said, narrowing his eyes at Mika when she glanced at him. The girl blinked and turned away sadly.

"Hmm… you're so mean! Poor Misa-chan…" She shook her head. "Well anyway, Jiro might be following his wife so; I hope you take care of him!"

At once, something awoke in Sesshoumaru. "Wife? What wife?"

"Oh, Misa-chan!"

"Mika's married?"

"Yeah!"

Bankotsu, who was sitting by a dying campfire with Yukuro, chuckled. "I wonder how this is going to turn out." Yukuro on the other hand was busy hitting her head on the ground. She was really wondering if those "vampires" were even _allowed_ to live. With pea-sized brains like that, they couldn't even survive one day. That woman was going to get it, she just knew it. And most likely that idiotic brother too. I mean, why tell your enemy something that would trigger your death?

They watched as Sesshoumaru flashed his glares onto the woman, who was laughing as if he wasn't even looking at her. Her idiocy must be helping her immunity, they thought as she called out to Jiro. The bat demon boy jumped out the cave and was so happy, he squealed at the sight of Mika lying on the floor. He also ignored Sesshoumaru's warning stares. Yukuro covered her eyes with the palms of her hands as she heard the daiyoukai approach the miko.

"Misa-chan—wait," he said, turning around to spot Sesshoumaru. "Who are you?"

Sesshoumaru stared at him some more to see if glaring really didn't work. Of course, Jiro was still immune to it. Then he said, "You love her?"

He nodded. "Yep! We're married too! We're going to have lots of children!"

Mika gagged. "No way. I am not married to you."

The vampire bat demon thingy patted her head and stroked her bangs. "It's okay, we'll name half of the children Mi and the other half Ro."

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" she shrieked. She brushed away his hand. "Stop touching my hair!!!"

"But Misa-chan, we're a couple now—"

"There wasn't even a wedding you dummy. You call bringing a bag of bones outside a cave a marriage?"

"It's because I didn't kiss you yet—"

"Don't even dare touching my lips with yours," she threatened, but it was ineffective. Jiro was still holding her hand and stroking it as if it were some precious object.

"Are you sure she's single?" Sesshoumaru said, interrupting their conversation. Jiro blinked and demanded some answers from the daiyoukai, who had his head turned just in case he ended up losing his pride. He was still too cowardly to face Mika and Jiro, but the direction he was going was working definitely.

"Mika might not be single. Therefore, she might be having an affair. Hasn't that even occurred to you, you piece of trash?"

Bankotsu began guffawing and pounding the gravel with Yukuro. "THAT IS TOTALLY CRUEL!!! AHAHA!"

"I'm a bat demon!"

"So, vampire," he snapped, "she's pregnant and she's not married to you. She's not going to have your children. That's all there you need to know."

A gush of cold wind passed by as Jiro's hand left hers and flied to her stomach. He stroked it a few times and held his head close to it. He even sniffed it, which of course to Mika's knowledge was unnecessary, disgusting, and terribly rude. She slapped him twice on each side before he finally stopped examining her body. He glanced up to Sesshoumaru with watery eyes and then—

Laughed like crazy man.

"YAY! WE'RE GOING TO NAME OUR CHILD MI-RO!" He hugged Mika and kissed her head. "Ah, Misa-chan, I love you—"

At this, Sesshoumaru had it. He pulled out Tenesiga, whose blade was gleaming with the remains of the technique it had used on the dragon. He pointed it menacingly at his nose and made sure his glower was as deadly as possible. "You must be mistaken. Shall I cut off the top of your head and fix your brain a little?"

"Eh? What do you mean?" Jiro asked, completely unfazed that a sword with a pointy end was about to pierce his nose.

"Whether Mika is pregnant or not, it has nothing to do with you."

"But… we're married—"

"Mika is not _pregnant_ with _your_ child," he said, his voice getting edgier every second. He slashed the air, with the intent to kill him, and watched as the black void slowly made its entry as a crescent of a moon. Jiro screamed and jumped out of the way as it tried to suck him in. But after he dodged it, Sesshoumaru went ahead and cut the air again, squeezing the bat demon in another tight situation. He dodged that one too and for the rest of the night, Sesshoumaru chased him around until he finally admitted that he was not married to Mika.

"Onee! He's so mean," he blubbered as his sister patted his head.

"It's okay. Competition will never get in the way of love," she said, with tears running down her cheeks as well. She cuddled her brother and made a fist at Sesshoumaru. "I won't forgive you for making my little brother cry. You'll do well to remember me, and the revenge I will have someday."

The only reply was a draw from Tenesiga to slice her head off too, but Mika stopped him just in time. After they sat down, Sesshoumaru eyed her with the most dangerous look and whispered a threat in her ear.

Nobody knew what he said, but it must have been dreadfully horrible if Mika was blushing everytime she stroked her stomach.


	57. Episode 57

Episode 63: The Temple of Righteous Prayer

Kyoko had a dream.

In the dream, there was a shadow of a boy. He wasn't wearing anything, but because he was nothing more than a black shadow, it didn't matter. They were standing on water, or what seemed like water, because the boy walked toward her, as his feet touched the blackness, she felt and saw the ripples being created. Before she knew it, he was before her; the only thing visible was a blue eye.

"_—my vessel._"

Kyoko reached out and touched the boy's forehead. Her fingers went through. She gasped and watched as the boy took a step and merged in with her body. As his face went ramming into her skin, he disappeared, as if he were entering her consciousness and mind.

Then, when she woke up, in the same strange land, in the same forest, she sat up. The nocturnal cicadas cried their mournful songs as she wandered down the path of stones and dirt. She walked and walked until her feet were sore, covered in bruises. Only when she smelled fire and spotted the flicker of a flame did she stop. Hiding behind a tree, she peered out and caught a glimpse of a boy resting at a tree.

He was wincing, his breath heavy and slow, and his right shoulder bare because of a long rip that extended down his waist. His eyes were shut tightly, his hands trying to crunch the dirt into smaller bits. But even in his weakened state, he knew Kyoko was there. His voice was clear and strong as he told her to crawl out.

"You again?" he groaned. Kyoko was puzzled. She hadn't spoken and the man's eyes were closed, so why was he saying "again"? As she sat down on an overgrown root of the nearby trees, the man leaned closer to the fire, his head dropping to face the ground below him. He then looked at her with cold eyes and requested her goal in meeting him.

"I uh," she said, stuttering at each word. "Um, oji-san—"

The boy turned to the side. His eyes were full of poignant intention. They were sharp like a blade's edge when they were aimed at her and soft like cotton when he stared at the fire or floor. He resented something… or someone. "I'm not old," he reminded her.

"Eh, gomenasai. I was lost and I thought you could help me find the way back home."

She noticed the boy was clad in filthy blue armor. He didn't stink however, even though he was sweating even though the night was chilly. His hair was tied in a braid, a very long braid, and beside him was a huge weapon he must have cherished. She watched him glance at the sky, noticing his discomfort. It must have been the wound on his shoulder.

He was about to say something cruel but instead he asked, "Where's your home?"

"In Okinawa but I moved to Tokyo," she answered. But the boy had no idea of what she said.

"I can't help you," he said.

"Then, do you know where I can find someone that can?"

His thoughts were already messed up enough and this little girl wanted to push her problems onto him. He bit his lip as he shook his head. "I don't know. Go run off to some village." He held up a thumb behind him. "There should be one ahead."

"Onii-san, could you come with me?"

"Ah?" He gripped his shoulder. "Do I look like I'm in a condition to baby-sit you?"

"I know I'm being unfair, but I don't know what to do. Please," she pleaded. He scowled. Her face looked like Mika's so much. And for some strange reason, he couldn't turn her down. Besides, he could probably get some help himself to get his cut fixed. He grimaced as he remembered how Sesshoumaru had treated him.

_'We haven't finished our battle yet have we, corpse?' Sesshoumaru said, facing Bankotsu._

He smirked and brought his life-taking blade into the air. 'We haven't eh?'

But Sesshoumaru was not about to take a chance. He touched his sword, but that was only a feign act. In a flash, as if he hadn't moved, his claw made its way down his shoulder and to his waist. His shoulder guard was ripped off, the seams of his fabric slit nicely. He landed on the floor, the blood flowing freely from his shoulder. His hand was still clutching the hilt of his blade, but soon the strength left him and the sword touched the ground.

Everyone, including Mika was shocked. Ignoring what Sesshoumaru had told her, she dashed in front of Sesshoumaru and tried to kneel beside him, but the daiyoukai held out a hand. She crashed into his arm and stood back, holding her stomach. It was acting weird again. She kicked sand at Sesshoumaru in defiance and demanded to have her way.

'Stay away from him,' was all he said. 'You'll regret it.'

'You don't order me around! Let me pass Sesshoumaru!' she yelled, throwing her arms down her sides. 'If you don't, I won't have it!'

Bankotsu was already blackening out as she said it. What did she mean by it? He was so exhausted… that cheating dog. He'll get him. He looked at Mika before his vision faded.

'B-Bankotsu!' Mika said again. Her voice was far away. He heard Mika struggling and slapping someone.

The last thing he heard was a bell.

"All right, I'll take you. But you better not pester me along the way or I'll kill you too."

The little girl quivered at his menacing words, but nodded obediently. "O-Okay. I won't. I'll be quiet. _Oyasuminasai_." And with that, she laid down, facing the tree root and closed her eyes.

Bankotsu closed his eyes too. He could hear it in the distance.

The sound of a bell.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The village was nothing compared the gigantic temple set in the center. It WAS a village, with rooms in every hallway, ponds that were scattered around the place, and especially priests and priestess filling the place. There were also statues of gods placed next to the temple. The stairs were long, as if they were leading to heaven too. Bankotsu was surprised. He had expected a boring town as usual.

Kyoko bumped into him as a senior couple made past her. They shuffled to the statues and bowed. After doing several prayers, they entered the oversized red doors along with a thousand others. The little Mika twin looked up at him.

"Onii-san, where's your big sword?"

"I hid it back in the forests. They'll think I'm a terrorist or something. Well, aren't you going in?"

"What am I supposed to do here?"

Bankotsu shrugged. "I took you here; I didn't say I was going in with you—"

The little girl ignored him and tugged on his bad arm. She dragged him all the way to the stairs where they began to climb. When they finally covered the last of the million steps, Bankotsu collapsed.

"Y-you… I'm tired. Can't I… rest…"

"Onii-san, you're so lazy! Let's go inside and ask someone!"

He gritted his teeth and ran his fingers through his hair. He couldn't believe he was being forced to oblige a tiny girl who was shorter than his already short self was. Being dead for the second time definitely wasn't a good advantage for the world. Plus, he felt uneasy being so close to so many priests and priestess. The temple was full of those annoying, head aching bells too.

"Look little girl—"

"My name is Kyoko," she said, facing him with Mika's same stubbornness. He lowered his eyelids at her interruption.

"Look, _Kyoko_," saying her name as some sort of curse, "I'm not your dad so I can't just follow you because you want me too okay? I got stuff to do. So just go in there and become a priestess or something if they can't help you."

The girl stood silent for a child. Was it because he had told her not to irritate him? He looked into her eyes and almost jumped back when she spoke.

"Papa, just take me inside, won't you?"

"What the heck, you were just calling me "Onii-san" and now Papa? Who are you?"

"Hee hee," she giggled, pulling onto his arm. She raised a thin finger to her mouth. "It's a secret."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Yukuro was beyond enthusiastic. She was practically jumping. Mika on the other hand, was having appetite problems. Her head was hurting too because of Totosai, who followed Sesshoumaru time to time and chattered almost constantly. The miko girl assumed she was simply happy because Sesshoumaru rescued Mika and now it was a complete family, (excluding the wild dog Nao who seemed to be lost somewhere).

"Hey Mika!" she said, slapping her shoulder as they approached the very same village Bankotsu and Kyoko were in. The delicate, hungry shoujo only stumbled a few steps because of her loss of energy. "There's a village. You want to stay there for a while to eat up?"

Immediately, she mustered up a bunch of energy and nodded. Passing by Sesshoumaru with lightning speed, she tapped his shoulder, told him she'd be back and hurried to enter the town.

She raced into the temple, crashing into people here and there, when all of a sudden she tripped down a long hallway. She got up and examined her surroundings. How did she get in a red temple so fast? She shrugged and took off her shoes respectfully and began to search the temple for some food.

However, instead of just finding a dining room full of chicken, rice, and vegetables, Mika only came upon a door. A large door that was closed, but was obviously leading into a bigger room.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The main hall was wider and larger than he expected. It was in the center of the temple itself. The floor was made of polished wood, where mats laid themselves in rows next to long, circular tables that carried candles of all sorts. There were minute statues in each of the corners in the room. But the largest sculpture of all was a sculpture of Midoriko at the end of the corridor.

Kyoko, who had been clutching Bankotsu's hand let go. She took a look at the statues curiously and laughed. She glanced at Bankotsu and waved. "Look! Look! The candles are so cool!"

Bankotsu shook his head. Why did she have to shout to him across the room? Then he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Your daughter's very cute," a man said, obviously a priest. He was as young as Bankotsu when he was murdered and he had quite a beautiful amount of hair as him. "What's her name?"

The braided man was about to tell him that Kyoko was not his daughter when all of a sudden the door opened. A girl, luckily no taller than him stood in the doorway. Her face was the origin of Kyoko's. Her mouth was spreading across her face as a smile as she ran toward Bankotsu.

"Hey, you're all right!" Mika touched his wound and frowned. "That Sesshoumaru was really unfair, wasn't he?"

"Your wife is very pretty too," the priest said, looking at Mika. Bankotsu gagged. His daughter and his wife??? No wonder he hated priests.

Then, he noticed it. The rod the priest was carrying with his left hand, the ribbons with the bells dangling at the end. The bells were golden, a gleaming bronze and when he bowed in respect for Mika as a fellow priest, the bells moved. He heard the chime and collapsed.

"Eh? Bankotsu?" Mika knelt down and held her hand to his head. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Is he sick?" the priest asked, the rod with the bells shaking again. Bankotsu reached up with his hand and pushed Mika's head beside his mouth. She felt his breath on her ear. He whispered something to her.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When Bankotsu awoke, he found himself in a dark room. It wasn't as dark as the cave he was been in with the snake herbalist Yukuro, because there was a hint of light peeping in through from the paper doors. But it wasn't sunlight… rather moonlight. He sat up, for he had been lying down for a while and was quite surprised when his hand hit something hard.

He heard someone mumble and held his head down to the floor to hear the person's voice. But of course, a mumble is only loud enough for you to distinguish if it is a woman or a man. The moan belonged to a girl's, but other than that, he didn't know who else it was. Then all of a sudden, he felt the girl's hand grab his wrist. She muttered something unintelligible before she went back to groaning.

Then Bankotsu heard footsteps outside his dark room. He stood up, but the girl's heavy weight prevented him from standing more than two inches higher, so he couldn't see the shadows outside. He sat back down and decided to wake the girl. Taking his chance, he touched the girl's hair and moved down until he felt the soft skin of her cheek. Then with a pow, he slapped her awake.

"OW!"

With the help of the light, he could see the girl had black hair. He panicked. What if it was Kyoko and her creepy "papa" and "oji-san" thing? He needed to find out who this person was. Immediately without fail.

"Which one are you?" he asked the girl. He saw the outline of the girl shift back into the darkness. He did the same and felt his cheeks turn red even though it usually didn't. What he was about to do wasn't exactly polite after all. Then again, when had he been polite?

He leaned in toward the direction of the shadow and reached out. His fingers felt something soft and round. Before he knew it, he was slapped.

_It's Mika… that's a good thing._

"You pervert! Do you have to touch my breasts to know who I am???"

"It's too dark to see. Plus little girls don't have them."

"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ME? AND BESIDES I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WAS _FLAT_!!!"

Bankotsu rubbed the part that was regretfully slapped on his face. "Oh I did? Well sorry. You have huge breasts—"

Even in the dark, he knew Mika's shoe had been thrown at him.

"I DON'T WANT THAT KIND OF COMPLIMENT!!!"

"Okay, then, you're flat—"

"JUST STOP TALKING!!! YOU PERVERT! DO YOU WANT ME TO SQUEEZE YOURS???"

Bankotsu grinned. "Go ahead."

Mika cleared her throat and said in a whisper, "Really?"

"Yeah."

Of course, Mika was too polite to do such perverted things. Bankotsu felt satisfaction as he tasted victory on his mouth. Mika on the other hand was tasting blood that flowed from her nose. In any case, they both sat down next to each other in the muted darkness, watching the unwavering moonlight seeping in. It was tedious waiting, and eventually, Mika stood up. She put her arms on her waist and faced Bankotsu, who was just as hard faced as she was. Frowning, he asked her what she was doing.

"I'm sure they didn't just stick us in here. You must have done something to anger them, didn't you?"

"I only came here today."

"You must be showing off that wound of yours!"

"What does my cut have to do with anything?"

She knelt down, her brown eyes illuminating like godly hazel lights. "You're a ghost, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"The rod he was carrying had those _torimono_ bells." Mika turned her head to the side, even thought the darkness held nothing of interest to see. "_Only the vengeful dead can hear them. Only the ones with reasons to destroy everything in sight can fall in the presence of Kami-sama's bells._"

"So I'm a vengeful ghost, huh?" he said, putting his arms behind his head to rest on. "But I'm not killing anyone yet."

"I'm not that stupid," she said.

"Huh?"

Mika stood up, her eyes staring into his own. A sweat bead rolled down as he avoided them. Automatically, without awareness of his action.

"That day, when you used me to taunt Sesshoumaru, I could feel it in your arms. You were shaking. Not because you hadn't killed, but because you were itching to rip my head off. I could smell the blood on you. They were the blood of those villagers, weren't they? I still remember that time too, when Sesshoumaru left me alone. You came, just pretending to joke around, but you came to kill me didn't you? You're a murderer!"

But Bankotsu only smiled. His grin was wide, spreading on his face, opening to welcome Mika with laughter. "Okay, so I'm a murderer." He tilted his head to one side, the shadows hiding half of his face. His eyes were full of melancholy.

She stood there before him, just standing waiting for an action. But he sat there only too, just daring her to say it again.

That he killed. Mika's fists clenched.

She couldn't say it either. After all… she was probably a murderer too. A killer accusing another killer was a silly thing to do. Both guilty and free. So she turned around and walked to the door. A shadow of a man blocked the moonlight. She shut her eyes as the shadow towered over her behind the sliding door.

"Awake now?" His voice was the same as the priest the two had seen earlier.

Mika grimaced, setting a grim expression on her face, even though he couldn't possibly see. "Yes, we are awake. What is the meaning of this? Why are you locking us up?"

The man ignored her questions and only introduced himself to them. "My name is Izuru. I'm a high priest of this temple."

The usual brown orbs that belonged to Mika turned golden. She kicked the door. "I DON'T CARE! LET US OUT!!!"

"I only locked you both in because you two have sinned. We can tell you see, when people walk in. Our Temple of Righteous Prayer is never wrong. We simply wish to cleanse your souls."

"Sins? Who gives snot about that?" Mika snapped. Bankotsu stood up and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Shut up. Can't you control your temper?" he whispered. Mika gulped. The boy could be scary when he wanted to.

"That's right; you should listen to your spouse. Controlling your temper is one of the most important things as a follower of Kami-sama." They watched Izuru turn around, his back facing them, still blocking the moon. "Isn't it, Mika-dono?"

Bankotsu removed his hand for Mika to speak. She was just as shocked as he was. "How do you know my name?"

A little grunt told them that he had sneered at them, just at the moment. "Mika-dono," he said, leaning toward the screen door. A few seconds lingered as she realized that what he was going to say was only for her ears. She swallowed again as she put her ear to the door.

"_Everyone knows the name of a monster. Sadly, the monster is you._"

The coldness in his words struck her heart. "W-what do you mean—"

Izuru continued on. "I know what's inside you. I know where you came from. I know who you are," he said.

_**Who I am—**___

'Mika-chan, it's all right, no one is going to hurt you! Please!'

_**I don't know who I am, where I came from.**___

'Go home, you bakemono! We don't need you!'

_**I am… I am—**___

'In the end, you're nothing more than a girl.'

Her hands flew to her head as the nightmares came flushing back into her brain. The truth… she didn't want to know the truth. She let her mouth open and a shriek escape her.

"_No…more…_" she pleaded. "_I don't want to hear anymore. I don't want to know._" She took a step backwards. "_I'll hide if you want me to! I'll stay in a closed room if you want to! Just don't tell me anymore!_"

"Then," Izuru said, "Will you come with us, Mika-dono?"

However, before anyone could say a thing, Bankotsu felt fingers the size of a thin stick wrap around his leg. He thought he could feel another presence in there. He turned around and almost choked.

For a shadow, so small, so undetectable was latching onto him. Eyes of blue were aimed on him. The same dead eyes as his. He felt invisible nails dig into his flesh.

_I don't want my mother to die._ The eyes narrowed at him. Suddenly, children around him, ages of five to ten surrounded him. They were all dead, only mere ghosts preying on the living consciousness of people. _You better not let her die._

Mika must have seen them too, because as soon as her hands covering her face left, her eyes were filled with terror as she fell backwards, blood trickling onto the floor. She curled up into a ball and began coughing. Her face was twisted in agony as she thought of pain and nothing more.

But before anyone could take an action, Izuru nodded to some guards outside. The sliding door opened. Men whose shadows and silhouettes covered their faces dragged the crying miko outside. Bankotsu could only watch, feeling the pain in his legs created by the dead children. After all, what was he supposed to do? Run after her? As if he could. He wasn't some lover. He just happened to be there.

Izuru was still standing there. His hair was let loose, landing below his shoulders. He stood before Bankotsu and held out the _torimono_. He smirked. "You don't like our bells, do you?" He shook it and the bells rang in his head.

However, for some reason it just wasn't enough. Perhaps he was immune to it somehow, or maybe he finally realized what he despised so much.

In a flash, Izuru found his head in the water, Bankotsu's fingers clutching his mop of hair tightly. He dunked him in and in until he finally got sick of it. Then he threw him aside and made sure his wrist was broken with the help of a stomp from his foot.

"Let me tell you something, Houshi." He knelt down, his wicked, sadistic smirk spreading on his face. "I really hate the living like you. Just because you can send me to the underworld or something, you think you can show your face to everyone like you're important. But in reality," he whispered, "it's us that rule you."

"You half-dead corpse—"

He couldn't say the last few words for Bankotsu had crushed the other hand by now. The pain knocked him out, leaving the high priest immobilized as Bankotsu headed the other way, unexpectedly toward where Mika had been dragged off.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Kyoko was watching. She was watching it behind an altar, watching Mika suffer as they made her drink some weird liquid. She took careful note of how Mika looked like an older version of her. She knew she was the one. She was her sister. She just knew it.

She also saw Bankotsu as he popped up in the doorway. She watched him walk past them, pushing them aside as he walked up to the Mika lying on the floor. She witnessed him kneeling down, talking to her in a soft voice. Mika smiled. She said something like, "I believed in you."

"Oh, you did? I thought you said I was a murderer," he said, repeating her recent words.

She laughed. "It's so fun to tease you."

"Hah. Very funny."

"Can you do me a favor?"

"What? I got stuff to do you know," he said.

"Since you came anyway, can you carry me out? If not, I'll tell everyone your secret."

He looked up to meet Kyoko's eyes and then carried into his arms Mika as if she were a bride and grunted. "Blackmailer."

"Very much appreciated, prince in shining armor!"


	58. Episode 58

Episode 65: The Rain

With the help of the buzzing boring villagers' crowds, Bankotsu made it outside the temple safely, undetected, and untouched. When he was sure the temple priests were heading in the wrong direction, he threw Mika down, and peeked behind the bushes to see if anyone was coming their way. As Mika got to her feet, she tapped his shoulder and told him that he didn't do what she asked.

"You said you wanted me to take you outside," he said, repeating her exact words. "I did, outside the temple."

"I meant outside the village."

"You have legs; you can walk the rest of the way."

"What about you?"

He stroked his beardless chin and shrugged. "I dunno. I think I'll stay here for a bit." Suddenly, he groaned and sat back down. He took a look at the wound on his shoulder and found that the wound had split open. Mika's additional weight must have taken a toll on his arm. Mika looked worriedly at it.

"What Sesshoumaru did was unfair," she stated, flashing him an apologetic glance. "I think you should rest or something."

But Bankotsu pushed away her hand coldly and grabbed the collar of her shirt. "Look Mika, if you think you can be friends with me, don't assume you can. I don't want to be friends with you or anyone." His eyes narrowed as an image of Kyoko flashed in his mind. "Especially you. You better keep in mind that the only reason you're still alive is because I can use you."

Mika only stared at her feet when he released her. However, she was still persisting in sitting next to him, glaring at his wound. "I don't care if you use me," she said. Then she smiled. "I know you won't kill me. I have this vibe you know."

Bankotsu paid no attention to her and only stood up. She stood up too and asked him what he was going to do. He only walked ahead but Mika only followed and walked next to him. "Going to get your revenge?"

He turned away, trying his best to pretend she wasn't there, but she kept her pace the same as his. Finally he gave up. "What do you want now?"

"I'm just curious to what you're gonna do. In my knowledge of this place, I think they might send a search party if you leave this place. Maybe for me too."

He scowled. "You got your guardian angel to protect you don't you?"

"Guardian angel?" She wagged her finger at him. "He's no guardian angel. If he was, he'd be saving me by now," she explained.

"You have a point. But why don't go back to him already?"

Mika smirked and began to laugh. "That's because I don't wanna."

All of a sudden though, they walked past the temple gate, giving their locations away. Before they knew it, they were cornered to the stairs back and front by angry villagers and priests. She held tightly on Bankotsu as he tried to shake her off. In a second, they were tied and being dragged back into the temple.

On their journey to the "torture room" as the priests called it, Mika began to cough. And not just a little blood, but large amounts. When they were thrown onto the floor, they overheard one of the nuns strolling down in a flurry talking about some poison. Mika assumed the drink they had forced her to swallow was the poison they were gossiping about.

"Poison huh?" Bankotsu commented as he tried breaking the chains with sheer strength. "Some temple of "righteous" prayer this is."

"I wonder what they're going to do," she said in a raspy voice.

"Probably cut a small opening in our stomachs and try to take out the guts without killing us."

"S-seriously?"

"I said _probably_," he repeated.

But before he could give her more methods of interrogating truth out of people by using physical pain, one of their captors ordered one of the lesser monks to take away Bankotsu. Dragging him into another direction, they pushed Mika down the hallway until they reached a door.

Then, she was thrown into another dark room. Only this time, the men had lit the room with candles and lanterns. All around them, torture devices lay there like some sort of precious gold. On the walls there hung knives, hammers, axes with bloody ends, and quite a bunch of cloths cut from the clothes of the victims purposely as souvenirs. In the center there was a table cut in the shape of a human. There were straps that were meant to hold the legs and arms sprouting out from the wood.

Seizing her wrists as if they were there to hold, they pulled her onto the table. As she fumbled and kicked, they successfully avoided her attempts to escape and secured her to the table. Then one of the rough men received a knife from one of the monks. Wiping the knife across her cheek, the water trickling down the wood like raindrops, they then held the knife next to her neck. Mika screamed, her eyes wide with terror, but to shut out her voice, they wrapped a towel around her mouth. She heard them talk about the scar on the side of her neck.

"We're sure it's her," the leader of the rough men said.

"Why?" a skinny man asked.

"The scar," they said, pointing to her neck. "It's one of the _three_."

She felt one of the men placing their hands around her neck, feeling for the scar. She tried to yell, but the towel muffled her cries. She had enough of this. She wanted out. What did they want her for?

What had she done? What had she ever done to these people? She bit her tongue. They were going to kill her, she knew it. They were going to sever her arms and fingers one by one and then hang her corpse outside for all the villagers who didn't follow the temple's rules. She peeked at the men. They were still holding the knife on her neck.

"Aw, she's scared," the men said. "Too bad she won't be scared any longer. It's a real loss you know. She's a nice girl."

"Heh heh, make sure you cut her up nicely."

"Eh? I thought we were going to tell Izuru-sama."

"Ah, he changed his mind. He said to kill them when we found them. And now, after ten years," the leader said, applying pressure on Mika's neck, "we finally found two of them." He smirked and leaned in close to Mika's ear. "Are you scared, little miko? Haha—"

"Hurry up. If you keep fooling around like this, she'll kill you," they warned him. The man laughed and slapped her cheek.

"She's so skinny. She can't do anything."

"Just do it already!"

"I know, I know. But it's funny how—"

It was just a slip of the hand. His friends had warned him. In a desperate try to escape, she went ahead and banged her head on the man's forehead. The knife began to sink into her neck, but she didn't care. These men had wanted to kill her. She didn't want to be killed.

"Hey! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, this stupid girl just—"

Her arms breaking the straps apart, she slipped out of the towel that was binding her head on the table. The man who was obviously surprised at her strength dropped the knife and hurried to back away. She snatched the knife before it fell onto the floor and gawked at them with golden eyes. Then she laughed.

"AHAHAHA!" she cackled, licking the tiny blade with her tongue. She looked at the skinniest man, who stood to the left of the table and began to walking toward him. "Should I?" She spun around toward the rough man. "Or should it be you?" Then she shrugged. "Ah, it doesn't matter does it?"

"S-stop this instant!" the men cried. But they were worried. Izuru, the priest had informed them that in such cases like hers, they would have a split personality or such, bringing some sort of strength to them mysteriously. Warily, they began to back away, grabbing nearby weapons to defend themselves. "Who a-are you???"

Mika cocked her head to her right. "Does it really matter?"

"Y-Yes it does," the skinny man said.

"Okay then." She held her free hand, which was not shaking when it was supposed to be when there is blood flowing down your neck. "I'm an oni. That's all I am."

"O-Oni?"

But the man had fallen to his knees by the time he had asked that question. Mika's oni thrown him across the room with a hand that extended out of Mika's back. She turned to face the rough man and grabbed a nearby axe. Using it like a projectile, she flung it at him, scaring him out of the room. The rest of the men, fearing what would happen to them ran away as well, but the oni didn't let them go.

She took a few steps to help her arms reach them, for they had a limit to where they could grab. As soon as they stopped to take a breath, a red hand, the color and claws of an oni demon seized their shoulder and threw them into a pond.

Triumphant, the oni sat down near the shore to watch the men float to the surface, unconscious.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Bankotsu had already taken out the five guys that were planning to burn him. The matches and the withered grasses were in one corner, unlit but ready to be used. He stomped on them and burnt them anyway, pulling their bodies toward the fire. They pleaded and used their sweetest voices to beg the boy to spare their lives, but they had already gone too far. He set their clothes on fire and gleefully watched them as they yelled and shrieked from the fire that licked their skin with stinging pleasure.

But all of a sudden, the fires stopped. The agony cries halted, saving them from Death's grip. Bankotsu knew who was behind him with his eyes closed and his back turned from the door. But he turned anyway.

"How brutal," the oni said, folding her arms. "You're such a sadist, aren't you?"

Bankotsu didn't say a word.

"Hey, you know, ever since Mika met you, I've taken a liking to you." She took a step forward and knelt down beside him. "You're such a cute little killer aren't you? I want to know what you're thinking," she said. "Maybe you could be my new body." Her hands reached out to touch his face. He didn't flinch.

"I love the way you aren't scared like those cowards. That smile… those dead eyes… I want them."

"You creep me out," he said, slapping her hands away. "You've been hiding in her, haven't you?"

The oni's smile widened as the red hands flew out of Mika's back and charged at Bankotsu. He dodged them both as they crashed into the iron bars. They broke immediately as if a sword had swiped away all supporting. Bankotsu then raced out of the temple door and headed up the dark stairs. He kicked the door open and ran down the hallway, pushing away a shocked nun.

After he passed the temple gate, he sped his way into the forest where he hurried up and dug up Banryuu. Mika's oni followed just as quickly, even though Mika's body originally did not have such stamina and strength such as Bankotsu. "Quite the runner, are you?

Bankotsu held Banyruu with his left hand, because the cut that was given by Inuyasha's older brother Sesshoumaru was still trying to patch up. He lowered his eyelids. "I'm not merciful," he commented.

The oni nodded. "Neither am I!!!" With a cackle, the red hands raced toward him, ripping the ground as it did. He ran to his right and made a half circle as he ran toward her, striking Banyruu at her. She dodged it quickly by leaping backwards and countered his blow with a scratch with Mika's real hands.

Her nails, not even half sharp still clawed at his face, drawing blood from his cheek. He ducked another hand as it swiped out as if to cut his head off. He swept Banryuu across the floor, to which she didn't dodge. Instead, she knelt down and stopped the blade with Mika's hand. The blood was coming out fast but it wasn't the oni's physical body, so it was perfectly fine. Cornered, he could only watch as the oni cried out "YOU'RE MINE!" and reached out to his face.

However, the oni had never gained complete control of Mika's body. Her hand halted half way before digging a hole in Bankotsu's face. She gritted her teeth and tried to move Mika's hand, but the oni was no match for Mika's will. Soon, the red hands retracted back into its solemn hiding place in Mika's body. Mika, who had returned back, blinked before falling into Bankotsu's arms.

She was coughing blood again. She pulled away from Bankotsu's arms and let the blood splatter onto the floor. "Did—" she started to say, but was interrupted by the constant coughing.

"What? Did you kill anyone? I don't know. Probably not."

"Where—" She choked and clutched the sand as she tried to breathe. "—are we?"

"Outside the village," he said. He grimaced as he caught a glimpse of her face.

Covered in sweat, combined with the blood, she looked like some slave girl that had been whipped and beaten to death. Her mouth was dripping with red blood and her eyes were starting to close. Her face was pale and by now she looked skinnier than ever. A grumble escaped her stomach as she couldn't help but hold onto Bankotsu to keep from hitting the ground.

"Oi, your blood is getting all over my clothes. Hey," he said, slapping her gently.

"_M-mizu… mizu…_" she groaned.

Bankotsu scowled. "I'm not carrying you anywhere," he said.

Her hand took a hold his sleeve. "Please… I won't ask anything else…" He took note that her fingers were shaking as they slipped away. She closed her eyes and dug her face in his shirt. He could feel warm tears soaking his shirt.

He clenched his teeth together and pushed her away. He wiped his mouth and stood up. "I told you before." Mika only stayed on the ground, silent except her occasional choking and cough. "_I'm not your friend. So stop clinging onto me._"

And with that, he pulled Banryuu out of the gravel and left Mika there, who was poisoned and immobile. Mika drowned herself in tears, waiting for help. She cried because she knew she couldn't just walk alone. She cried because she was always like this, dependant on others, waiting for others to rescue her. Her hand had enough energy to turn into a fist as she transferred all her anger onto the ground.

"Why," she asked the stars. She knew they were there, even though she couldn't look up. "Why am I so selfish???" The tears kept coming as she slammed her fist multiple times in the ground. "Why can't I rely on myself for once? Why?"

_I'm so useless,_ she thought bitterly. _I can't even live right._

Then, as if the stars answered her questions, a squirrel clambered up to her. Squeaking and making its noise, it clawed at Mika's head gently, convincing her to stand up. Gradually, she pushed herself off the floor. When she sat up, the coughs a little bit less violent, the squirrel pawed at her knee and scurried to the entrance of the forest. It turned around, its beady eyes staring into her.

"Are you asking me to follow you," she questioned the squirrel in a soft voice. The rodent only stood there, its paws in front of it, ready to land back onto the floor to run.

Wiping her tears away, she stood up, shuddering to one side, and hobbled her way to the squirrel. It squeaked and made its way slowly through stepping stones and creeks, always never out of sight. Sometimes, when Mika was about to fall, it would run back up to her, staring at her towering figure, unafraid if she would tumble and squish him flat. Little by little, they went deeper into the forest, the moon disappearing behind trees and branches.

The squirrel avoided cliffs and trees with roots sprouting out. It was as if the squirrel knew the forest like the back of its paw. Sometimes, when he wasn't sure, he would go to his right and sniff a bit before turning to his left and looking back to Mika to see if she was following.

After an hour of treading into nothing but dark shadows and rocks, the squirrel retreated to a large tree where he rejoined his family of squirrels. His mate, a bushy tailed female made a nice squeal before beckoning him in their little spot of branches.

"So you were just… going back home, weren't you?" She coughed and leaned on a tree before whispering some more thoughts. "I knew that. You're really lucky you know. I don't have a home," she said, smiling.

Then she started crying again. She fell to her knees, one hand on the surface of the tree trunk. And when the tears finally stopped, she stood back up, thanked the squirrel, even though she was sure he was just fooling around with her, and went on her way. Wandering around, she only went in a straight line before her footing was lost.

She slipped and began to slide when a strong arm pulled her back onto the ground. She looked up, hoping it was Sesshoumaru and gasped when it really was him. He was still emotionless as ever, but this time, she was really grateful.

"I told you to stay away from him," he said. Mika nodded at a snail's pace. He glared at her for a moment before he knelt down as to not frighten her, examining her weak features.

"You're pale."

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"You're whispering. Where did you go?"

She looked at the floor, like a guilty child refusing to admit her wrongdoings. Eventually, after trying his long patience, she said, "The village."

For a few seconds, he only looked at her before he took her hand, and stood up. He pulled her gently and with the last ounces of her strength, he walked her back to Rin and the others, where she laid down gratefully, for a nice slumber.

But the poison was very intoxicating. It was hard to sleep, her head uncomfortable on the fallen leaves where bugs crawled in and out. Soon, she sat up again, her stomach empty and her tears gland unwilling to shed any more tears. She turned to face Sesshoumaru, who never slept and asked one question.

"Sesshoumaru, can I stay here with you?"

The daiyoukai was busy watching the moon, which seemed not to move. Then he said, "If you need to."

"Okay," she said. She turned away and glanced at the logs that were burning some minutes ago. A few ashes were left from the fire. Then she stood up and joined him, even though she was still frail.

"Sesshoumaru, whenever you need me running, you know you can just whistle. I'll be right there," she said.

He didn't look at her. "I don't need you running to me."

Mika only smiled in reply. "But _they_ will."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Now the rain was falling.

It was a cold rain; its only intention was to bring down the tears that the black clouds had collected for the past few weeks. It washed away all the regret and blood Bankotsu had spilled today. But it didn't wash away Mika's face. Or Yukuro's. Or Kyoko's.

All their faces were still there, lingering in his mind. They wouldn't disappear, like the face of his mother who he hadn't seen in the ten years that had come and gone. They refused to even bury themselves in the deep corners of his mind, only popping up time to time to remind him that they were alive, there and never going to go away until he took their lives by his hand.

That's why he wanted to kill Mika. To make these images to go away, to make his mind empty and white again.

_But maybe_, he thought, draining in the tears of the rain and standing there in the middle of nowhere. _Maybe, I just wanted to talk to her._

Yes, a simple talk. He couldn't even do that. All he knew how to do was take away smiles because he didn't know how to smile anymore.

He didn't know how to live anymore.

He glanced at his hand, the hand that had taken so many lives back then. To atone for sins, was what they called, didn't they?

But no, Bankotsu didn't want to atone for anything. He didn't want to kill today, not tomorrow, or next week. He just wanted only one thing, one simple thing that only the living had.

And that was to laugh freely again.


	59. Episode 59

Episode 66: The Temple of Righteous Prayer II

He didn't expect her to find him. After all, this time he had made sure his tracks were concealed and that not even a scent leaked out of him other than the invisible dirt from his grave. But Kyoko had followed him, her eyes shining golden, just like Mika's. Only, they were not inhumanly golden because she had an oni residing in her body similar the miko girl's, but because the sunlight was reflecting off her brown eyes so well, they just looked like yellow eyes.

He hated those eyes. They looked exactly like the orbs Inuyasha had faced him with when he declared victory. If he could, he would rip them out right there and then, but Kyoko wasn't completely harmless. He had a feeling that she had much more to hide and before he killed her, those things would be worth knowing.

"How did you find me?" Bankotsu asked, turning around when he noticed the footsteps about eight paces away.

"Why did you go into the forest?" she countered with a question of hers. As he stared into her eyes, he noticed she didn't need to blink either.

"Answer my question first, _gaki_," he said, folding his arms.

Kyoko giggled and held a hand to her mouth. "It's forbidden."

"Then who are you?"

"That is also forbidden." Kyoko closed her eyes and reopened them, her arms flying out to her sides. "Rule Number Six Six Nine: No being of the real world may know the identity of beings of the other world."

_So she's hinting she's not part of this world too?_ He continued pressing her for more information. "Are you inhuman?"

She smiled. "Rule Number Eight Seven One: Only when they are brought into the world by a trigger of events may they speak freely."

He turned his back onto her. "Okay, okay, I get the point. You can't talk right?"

"That is exactly what I mean."

Kyoko's arms went back to her sides as she walked up to Bankotsu. "Do not worry. As long as you stay within the line, you will find out whom I am soon enough. Be patient."

Bankotsu scratched his head. "I'm not a patient person."

Kyoko grinned, her eyes aching to tell him the truth. She seemed to have decided to give the clueless mercenary a hint. "Then go get a girl."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, Papa."

~O~O~O~O~

The miko girl refused to eat. Even when the adorable child, named Rin pleaded her with sweet voices and puppy dog eyes. But the priestess did not take one bite. Each day, the progression toward a death of starvation slowly became a problem. Before anyone knew it, Mika was dehydrated and having a hard time talking.

Meanwhile Mika was suffering for no apparent occasion, because she could just force herself to eat instead of giving up and fasting, Yukuro devised a plan. After all, how could a lover refuse another lover's offer to feed her? When afternoon arrived, Yukuro sneaked her way to Sesshoumaru, who was suffering just as much as Mika. Daiyoukai had as many headaches as humans do.

"Hey Sesshoumaru! Why don't you go do Mika a favor—"

"I'm not hand feeding her," he said, his intuition right for once. Yukuro chuckled weakly as Totosai's hammering went off in the distance.

"I didn't say anything yet," she pointed out.

Sesshoumaru stood up and glared at her. "I know what you're going to say. You always have these stupid ideas. Go get a life," he snapped as he walked past her. Crumbling to bits and pieces, Yukuro pounded the floor as she searched her mind for things for her to do in life. She found nothing and decided to pursue this path a bit longer. She raced up to Sesshoumaru and held out her arms to stop him.

"Wait a minute, why don't you get a life, loser?" She pointed her finger at him, as if she was declaring he was growing a pimple. "You got a girl pregnant and you're not doing anything to help her."

"Are you blind?"

"You're blind! How could you just stand there and not do anything?"

"That's my line. Aren't you an herbalist? Do you need me to spell out everything to you?"

Totosai just then went flying by on his cow. "Hey Sesshoumaru, the sword's nice right? Tenesiga is after all, a masterpiece—"

Sesshoumaru eyed him a flash of irritation before returning to Yukuro. Right now, he wanted Yukuro out of his face. He didn't care about Tenesiga at this moment.

"What do you mean? She's obviously suffering symptoms of pregnancy!"

Totosai picked his nose with his right finger as his left one picked his ear. He found some nice boogers before he stated some truth. "She's been poisoned."

Yukuro could only let her mouth fall and hang as her hands flew her head and her feet began dancing. "OH GOD NO!"

"Yes," Sesshoumaru said. "Even this useless old man knew that."

Totosai pouted. "Aren't _you_ irritable?"

_He's always been cranky_, Yukuro thought sourly. _He's also a spoiled brat._

"Well?" Sesshoumaru said, his voice rising. Yukuro nodded swiftly and ran to Mika's rescue.

The girl with black locks was currently resting on her back using a tree trunk as support. But when she arrived, Mika awoke; her eyes not exactly pleasant. She stood up and narrowed them at Yukuro as the snake herbalist stopped in her tracks.

"Mika? What's wrong?"

"It's here. Something that belongs to me."

"Huh? Mika," she cried as Mika stumbled when she tried to walk past Yukuro. But the miko brushed away her hand.

"It's there," she said weakly, staring into the random space. "It's so close. It's mine, it's only mine. I have to go get it," she explained.

But Sesshoumaru was the obstacle that prevented her from moving any farther away before she actually died. His piercing gawk was like a sword that was stuck in her leg joints. Mika stopped walking and looked at him. The way she did, he assumed that the poison was numb to her at the moment.

Mika's eyes were wide and open, as if she were trying not to blink for as long as she could. She looked shocked too, when she really felt nothing inside. Only a continuous longing for something out there, something nearby that she could have, finally at last. Her hand extended to reach something, but before she could do anything else she collapsed. The poison was finally beginning to eat away her life.

And not only her life.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Because the last village was a stumper, they found out about a new temple that had been built recently. After gathering their few belongings and a full three days of nothing but helping weakened villagers, Kikyo and her "apprentice" Kohaku made their way to the Temple of Righteous Prayer.

There had been rumors spreading around about a dead miko, but with the help of Kikyo's great acting, nobody suspected the clay body to be that particular priestess. Kohaku wasn't a too shabby of an actor either. They soon found a room to borrow for a week for some more information scavenging. As Kikyo sat down for a rest, she sighed.

"What's wrong Kikyo-sama?"

"I've been with humans during the time I was alive and even now but," she said, halting in her sentence to stare at the scenery through a small window they had provided, "sometimes I feel disgusted by the living. I envy them and yet, I also hate them." She glanced at Kohaku. "It is only natural for the dead to be jealous of the living. Do you ever have such feelings?"

Kohaku shook his head. "I only have regret. Naraku didn't kill my family; I did. The only reason I am seeking Naraku to kill is because this is atonement for my sins."

Kikyo chuckled. "You have such a pure heart, Kohaku. On the other hand, I am a wicked monster."

"That's not true, Kikyo-sama. You're a very nice person. It's just that people like Naraku like taking advantages of your kindness. But don't worry," he assured her, pulling out his scythe. "I'll protect you until the time for Naraku's death."

"_Arigato_," she said, but someone interrupted her.

A girl wearing a green skirt and a sailor uniform top stepped in. Behind her was an older girl, around the age of Kikyo when she had passed away. Kikyo was puzzled. Had Kagome and the others been following her?

"Kikyo," Kagome said, her voice lowering to a whisper. Kikyo responded to her "clone" with a frown.

"Inuyasha's here, isn't he? Following my scent again," she assumed, but Kagome shook her head.

"Inuyasha's not here. I…"

The dead miko turned to Kohaku. The sparkle of the Shikon no Kakera shimmered in the back of Kohaku's neck. "You felt Kohaku's Shikon no Kakera, did you not?"

Kagome ignored her comment and went on to state what she came here for. "Anyway, Kikyo! Please, don't take Kohaku's shard! There's another way to defeat Naraku! We can find his heart and—"

"I have said this to Inuyasha. Can you beat Naraku with a sword?" She stood up from beside the guest beds. "Your arrows will not do anything. And neither can mine." She held a hand to her chest. "Only Midoriko's will and mine will kill Naraku."

"Are you sure?" Kagome asked, throwing her hands down at her sides at her waist. She began storming her way to Kikyo. "Kikyo! You can't do everything by yourself! We all have to work with each other. Didn't you learn that?"

She only snickered. "Kagome, you know as well how much I despise working with you. Not that it is your fault. It is only the nature of the dead. I cannot work with your friends, or Inuyasha. After all, the dead should not mingle with the living."

Kagome's hot temper began to rise. She just couldn't stay calm and composed like her original self. "Just who do you think you are? You aren't some god!"

"Who do you think you are, Kagome? Aren't you just another human too? Just because you came from some other time, just because you can stay with Inuyasha, you think you are better than me?"

Sango, who knew that her constant worry for Kohaku was causing problems, touched Kagome's shoulder lightly. "Kagome-chan, please. It's all right. I… I know Kohaku's going to be all right. After all, Kikyo—" she glanced at her and corrected herself, "Kikyo-sama won't kill him. I know that well. That's why, we should leave."

The ninth grader shook her head stubbornly. "Kikyo, what are you doing here anyway?"

Kikyo lowered her eyes. "Well, even though I have no need to tell you, I'll just do so anyway." Her hand did not leave her chest. "Has Inuyasha told you about Midoriko's soul inside me?"

Of course, the dog half-breed had never mentioned anything of this to Kagome, knowing that she would just sit him or yell at him for lying. Kagome felt childish and wrong inside. She tried to calm herself down. "No—no he didn't. He didn't… want to hurt me."

Luckily, their awkward hate-like relationship together was leaning on the good side. Kikyo understood. "The soul that I had taken back from you, after being in my clay embodiment for so long, it has began to act like my own once more. It is also due to the fact that now my soul and Midoriko's now lay in a real body. Because my belief is different then yours, I began to think of Midoriko. Had not the Shikon no Tama originated from her own heart, her own soul? After this thought, I sought out her soul, from the depths of your fellow comrade, your youkai tajiya and now she has become one with me. The scar that you had succeeded in slowing down disappeared and now I no longer need to consume the unfortunate souls of women. That's why; I must use this chance before her soul runs out on me. Before this borrowed body of mine becomes to dust, I must correct the mistake that has caused fifty years of pain.

"But it is puzzling me. Midoriko has a secret, I believe. And to fully understand and to use Midoriko's soul to its full potential, I must find out her dark secret." She glanced at Kagome, who was intelligently absorbing this entire in. "I began to think this way when I found that inscription in the town where Midoriko was born in. In the cave, it told of this prophecy. It was strange and yet, it was a clue. A clue leading to Midoriko's secret."

"But," Kagome said, interrupting Kikyo in her story, "does this place have something to do with Midoriko?"

The miko refused to say more.

~O~O~O~O~O~

During the next five hours, Mika went under Yukuro's care. With the help of Myoga, the flea demon, the poison was extracted out easily, but by now, it was clear. Mika was pregnant. And whatever child or children that were feasting on her nutrients had been poisoned for a long time now. Myoga sat there as Mika rested, thinking of a way to take out the remaining poison without killing her.

Meanwhile, Totosai was having an important discussion with Yukuro.

"About the girl's pregnant problem," he said, striking a rock because his hands had nothing to make a sword out of. "You're sure they're Sesshoumaru's children, are you?"

Yukuro thought hard. Sometimes she wondered if Bankotsu had anything to do with this, but then again, he was a dead guy. Besides, a human child wouldn't last that long with a poison that strong. Then she realized that who ever had inserted the poison knew about the baby. The poison was meant for the baby!

"Figured out something?" Totosai asked. The snake began to explain.

"The poison. I just realized that it's dangerous for humans, but especially for unborn infants. Whoever had forced Mika to intake the poison knew about her fetus. That means that they were trying to kill the baby before finishing Mika off."

Totosai pointed out a contradiction in her statement. "They could've just killed Mika."

"Maybe they needed Mika but the child was blocking their way."

"The girl's just a human girl who's pregnant with a kid that we don't know who it belongs to."

Yukuro, at times like these wished it was Sesshoumaru's child. Sure, he'd make a horrible father, but if Mika was really carrying his bloodline, then that meant that Mika's life would be spared. But that would also mean a win for the bad guy. She scratched her head. Who was the bad guy? Why were they doing this?

"I'm so confused," she shouted. She stood up. "I'm going to ask Sesshoumaru. He should know." With that, she told Totosai to wait and ran off to the daiyoukai. She quickly explained their thoughts and awaited Sesshoumaru's answer. There was a long silence and eventually she got impatient. She repeated her question.

"Sesshoumaru, please tell me you got her pregnant!"

He shut his eyes, hiding the fact that he really didn't know. Yukuro understood. So she backed away, disappointed that she couldn't get the definite truth. She hurried to Mika's side and held her hand. The poor girl's skin was so cold. Her face was pale. Her lips were chapped, her cheeks and ears red as a cherry.

_An early delivery is good too. As long as a miracle happens, it's okay. _She held Mika's hand to her forehead. _Mika, I swear. I'll find that miracle. I'll find it and bring it to you. So don't go die before the miracle happens!!!_

With that silent prayer, Yukuro left the following hour.

~O~O~O~O~O~

After making his way back to his room, Izuru slid the door shut using his leg. Then he yelled for some low ranking nuns for some hot water and herbs. As they came into his horribly lit room, two nuns hurried to light a few candles while the eldest one went to work on bandaging his arms. They were still bleeding, still hurting, and still throbbing with the scars that had been caused by that boy who was older than nineteen, but with a face of a civilian.

He grimaced as the nun accidentally wrapped the bandage too tight. The blood spilled over to the right as he glared at them rather than scolding loudly. She hurried to fix her mistake and left the room, with the other sisters bowing before leaving.

Finally alone in his room, he pulled out a scroll with his right hand, which was shaking as he undid the binding. He could barely move his fingers, but it seemed the boy was in too much of a hurry to notice he didn't break his arms completely. When the scroll lay before him spread around him, he began to read.

It was a scroll containing a secret.

A dark secret that was never told to anyone outside the village that carried this secret and called it "history".

He had purchased it with a heavy bag of gold from a man who had once lived in the village but fled afterwards. In the scroll was a detailed explanation of the ten years that the man had lived in the village. The man described the peaceful trees that had leaves that fell gracefully to the ground at a rhythm each autumn. The man had written down with his best calligraphy about the kind villagers and energetic children.

However, after about thirty columns, the man's writing became sloppier. The characters were just thrown on, as if the man had been writing on his deathbed. The story of the once quiet village became somewhat sinister.

Izuru trembled as he mouthed the words silently. The candle's flickering light dimmed, only to regain its brilliance after a moment's hesitation to continue to live. The monk glanced at his door, to which no one was standing before and then returned to the scroll.

The scroll stated that on the day of the full moon, a girl, around the age of twenty eight seasons, arrived at the village. It said the child wore strange clothes. There was an ink splotch there as the characters then said that he assumed the strange kid was from China or India.

After a few more columns that told Izuru that all was well for several days, it suddenly began to say that the girl was punishment. The scroll said that the youth was an embodiment of the sins they had committed. As the columns became scragglier and less readable, Izuru read that all of a sudden all of the humans in the village, ages ranging from five to ten became paranoid. The worst cases drowned themselves in the river, while half of them hanged themselves in their room or starved to death. Like a curse, the adults began to fear their offspring and started to lock them in, one by one until no child skipped merrily down the barren streets again.

However, there were three that seemed to be not as paranoid as the others. In fact, they seemed to have been recovering instead. As the scroll's long and dirty page curled upon the floor, Izuru finally reached the beginning of the curse's real face.

_The full moon of fall had come. It is a beautiful night, but it is only beautiful if there are children around. Alas, no one, not even the bravest men can come outside now without fear that their son or daughter will go kill themselves. It is a predicament that I cannot foresee its end and do a thing to change._

_It's been a while since I had come out of my hut. Even I was afraid to come out. The youth are so scared, if they escaped the house and saw me, I knew it would be the end of my life. I have even witnessed a man being killed by his own son once. After his father was dead, the son committed suicide. I can still recall the body floating across the river. It was not a pleasant scene, after all._

_As I have written earlier, there were three children that have seemed to be calmer than the others. They are less cautious, but yet they are still hesitant to go near anyone other than themselves. I dearly wish I could do something. So today, I went over to the hut where one of them, a boy of thirteen was sleeping. He was awake however and oddly, he was counting the chickens in the chicken pen. I approached a distance away, as to not alarm the youngster, but I could see in his lifeless eyes that he wasn't planning to have anyone coming by. Before I call out his name, he runs back home, and doesn't come out for quite some time._

_Then, after a rejection from the parents of the second paranoid child, I decided to try the last one. She was the young ten year old apprentice of the village's priestess. However, when I entered the hut, she was the first to greet me. Her face was bubbly and round from a well fed meal and she was practically jumping. A first reaction I hadn't seen in a long time._

_When I took a seat, the priestess of the village came in. When we all three were seated, we ate a warm meal together, as if the curse never existed._

_Only when the next day came did my fears become confirmed. I woke up tired and somewhat sweaty from a horrible nightmare. It was irrelevant to the absence of the cuckoos that usually came from our roosters. That was when I realized that all the chickens, be it a hen or a male, they were all slaughtered. The poor animals were thrown into a bunch down the river which was now unused for who, I ask, can drink such tainted water?_

_I hurried to the boy's home and asked for the parents to come out. Only the mother greeted my call, just as weary I was. I asked for the boy, to which she answered "asleep". I shook my head and made my way into the house, my eyes searching side to side until I noticed a person sleeping on a futon near the exit._

_Shaking the boy awake, he was about to scream when he realized it was just a person. I took note of his muscles that tensed and relaxed, knowing that he was unsure whether to be cautious or not. I waited, wondering if the curse was about to strike, when all of the sudden the boy asked me what I wanted. I asked for his hands. He held them out, clean and somewhat a bit greasy from yesterday's dinner._

_I was wrong. It seemed that he was just counting the chickens for no reason. My worries were controlling me; forcing me to rude actions. I stood up and returned to my room after a deep apology._

_After two weeks from the animal killings, I visited the apprentice girl again. I came upon them when they were eating a measly breakfast. Just then, I happened to glance upon the girl's hands. They were bloodied and red, as if she had fallen down while skipping down the roads, which no child did these days. I began to stare shockingly at her as I sat down, my hand stroking my beard. The pieces were coming together. I reckoned she had sent the boy to count the chickens to throw the blame onto him._

_I had grimaced at that time, murmuring "good children are always the bad ones." At once, the little girl, no older than ten stopped smiling. She turned to face me. I began to shout accusations to her. She only sat there, shaking her head at everything I said. But I was right. I had to be!_

_However, before I could point out her clever trick, which was sending her own friend to do a risky task such as counting how many birds there were for her to kill, I heard a friendly bark from a puppy behind me. I turned around but that was when the curse began to work its effect. The poor girl began to wail and scratched at the floor with her fingernails. I returned my attention to her, watching her throw her arms in front of her as she crawled away from us adults. She then, curled up into a ball, her hands over her head and her mouth moving to create the words, "I'm sorry". She repeated the words over and over again, all the while the priestess made her way over to her side to comfort the child._

_When I shooed away the puppy, I asked the girl if she killed the chickens. She gawked at her teacher and asked if she didn't believe in her. When Omae-sama did not reply, the girl faced the floor, her bangs and hair covering her guilty face. And then, she said in a quiet whisper, "Yes" and dashed out of the hut._

_The following day, she returned, with the strangest, happiest expression on her face._

"Izuru-sama, you have a guest," a nun said, as her shadow popped up behind the screen door. Izuru swiftly bound the scroll back together and flung it back in a safe place before opening the door.

"What is it? Who is it," he asked, impatient because he was just getting to the good part of the dark history.

The nun stepped to the side. The darkness was hard on his eyesight, but whoever came to visit him seemed to have no difficulty at all. He heard the footsteps approaching him but when he glanced at the shadow of the nun, it was gone. He was alone.

"Who is it?" he repeated, his voice starting to get shaky. For the nun to just disappear into thin air, that meant trouble. He scratched his head as he began to step back inside his room. He had enough trouble for the past few hours. First dealing with a girl who he thought to be one of the paranoid victims and then a half dead corpse that broke his wrist was a lot for one day. All Izuru wanted was a nice nap on his futon with the coarse air flowing in.

But apparently, tonight he wasn't going to get it. Because as soon as his foot touched the entrance to the wooden floors, a fist shot out of nowhere and connected to his jaw. He fell backwards and landed on his back, unconscious until the next day.

~O~O~O~O~O~

There were thirty five in total. They were plump and stupid too. Easy targets, he thought to himself silently. Then he turned and ran.  
Where? Where he was running he didn't know either. He just knew he had to run.

But who cared anyway?

Bankotsu woke up in sweat as he looked at his surroundings. For the past few hours, he had been trying to take a nap. The time he lost, (in the afterlife), he needed to make up here in the real world. But throughout his life, he was always used to sleeping on a nice bed or something soft. Rocks and tree trunks were never objects of comfort and the twigs often poked splinters into his skin.

And in that time he lost, he had dreams. About counting something, but he couldn't see. It was an imageless dream, the eyes he had in the dream seeing nothing but pitch black surfaces. There were only voices he thought belonged to him and some others he couldn't make out.

He turned to face Kyoko, who was sleeping quite comfortably by herself. He scowled and slammed his head gently back on the thick tree. Kids could sleep so easily and yet he was without a peaceful slumber. He shut his eyes and tried again.

~O~O~O~O~O~

On some other side of the forest, Mika was trying to grab a hold of sleep as well. Of course, as everybody so far tonight, she unsuccessfully closed her eyes and stopped moving. She kept turning this side and then this way, sometimes her arm up there or her leg over there; it was just mayhem. In fact, instead of rest, we might as well dare say she was wasting her time. Finally, she got up, her dry throat drier than ever.

Her stomach really hurt; or was it her uterus? Either way, she couldn't lay down another second. Wobbling even on her two steady feet, she began to walk a straight line to where her brain said the river was. And soon enough, her memory proved to be useful because in a few seconds, she was dipping her hands into the fresh liquid and slapping a handful onto her face. She sighed and looked at the stars.

"Can't sleep?"

She turned around, her brain trying to analyze the voice. But she couldn't remember until she saw his face.

And when her brown but hazel in the moonlight eyes met his red ones, she almost tumbled into the water.


	60. Episode 60

Usually, I don't do things like author notes. It's because I like the story in one place. But then again, I hate wasting pages (not that this is going to be killing trees XD). Anyway, I apologize if I have updated a bit tad late. I've been busy and lazy with homework from school. Of course, looking back at how fast I upload these chapters, you'll get them sooner or later.

In any case, enjoy this episode of bone-chilling evil monks!

**Characters (Just for gist of it)**

Hashi Mika: Somewhat like the main character. Even though she means well and is usually harmless, her selfish actions and constant belief that someone somehow will save her hurt others very easily. Her name is not as common in the Japanese world, but it still has a meaning. Her name means "perfume", which my fan fiction is hinted with the help of Sesshoumaru's nose.

Yukuro: A snake youkai who seems to have met "Inu no Taisho" before. She is very caring, almost like a mother to Mika, and is easily teased by others because she is so serious. It is unknown if she even holds affection for Bankotsu.

Nao: A weird wild dog demon. A weakling and is usually just there. Currently unimportant.

Jiro: A recent character. He seems to want to cling onto Mika. He is also a bat demon/vampire thingy. His name means "second born son", which is true because he is younger than his older sister.

Omae: A miko who lives in a cursed village full of paranoid people. She seems to be holding a secret.

Hashi Kyoko: Another strange little girl who seems to have found herself in the Feudal Age Japan as well. Her surname is Hashi... but it is unknown if Mika, who she resembles to a identical extent, is her ancestor or even related to her. Time to time, she is a usually spunky girl but when things get serious, her entire personality seems to change. Her name Kyoko means many things, but for the way I would intend to write for her in Japanese characters, I would use the character for "mirror" thus, her name means, "mirror child."

Izuru: A monk at the Temple of Righteous Prayer. The one who pulled the strings to have Mika's fetus to be poisoned.

Jiro's Sister: Her name is never stated in the fanfiction, at least for now. Just as brainless as her brother but aware of her instincts to kill. Therefore, because she is the more experienced one, she tends to suppress those instincts better than Jiro. Her name is Aneko, which means "older sister".

Episode 67: The Temple of Righteous Prayer III

The doors were sealed shut. All the guests, elderly and children had returned to either the village or the lodgings the temple had prepared at the eastern corner. Because at night, there was a tradition. A tradition to pray and kneel before the gods. Offerings were placed before the statues and the high priestesses would come out of their rooms after a long day of nothing but prayers to dance in a room of torches and monks.

Today however, the priestess weren't the only ones to dance. So were the priests. Everybody, in the room where the statue of Midoriko was going to dance tonight.

But in reality, they were dancing for neither to the gods or the goddesses.

"Let us today, drink a cup of wine, only one sip," the bishop said, raising his arms around the room. The low-ranking monks came out from the sides of the room that apparently no one noticed were connected to small kitchens. In their hands they held a tray that bore the heavy but minuscule red cup of wine. They set it down before the bishop and stepped into the small crowd of religious men and women.

First, the bishop delicately brought the cup to his mouth. His lips touched the liquid and he closed his eyes, taking in the scent of the chemicals inside the cup. Then, with one sudden jerk to his back, he drank the entire cup. It seemed that a cup of wine was considered a sip. Or maybe, the Bishop was allowed a larger portion.

The monks that had brought out the wine hurried to refill it. When the cup was now filled to the brim with the same nasty wine, the bishop once again held it into the air but instead of drinking it, he turned to his right and gave it to the high priestess to his right. The liquid was half emptied before she handed it back to the bishop, who gave it to the miko to his left. She finished it and the monks refilled it, and so forth.

For an hour, the group of followers did nothing but drink from the cup that their germs had been infested with. Yes, they knew it was unsanitary, but when custom was being practiced, science was one of the things that couldn't get in the way. Finally, the last people to drink were the monks, who drank just as slowly and gracefully as everybody. Then the bishop continued on with his speaking, which had been postponed for sixty minutes.

"Have your souls been doused in the liquids given by our _god_?" he said, his arms once again held to the air.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Then, let's have our priestess take the floor and dance. May one brave gentlemen take the hand of the beautiful lady?"

A hand shot up from the audience. A man, about thirty to thirty five gleefully bowed before the young priestess of thirteen. She curtsied and then held out her hand. The other hand clutched tightly of the _torimono_. The bells jingled with a silent, ghostly tune as she pranced and twirled, her red garments sparkling.

Her sister priestess, who was one year older than her was whisked into the center by one of the monks that had served the wine. She giggled as he tripped as he gently held her hand. It was obvious to the bishop and others that they had crushes on each other. But such was the nature of youth, was it not?

Then, in amidst the tiny festival in the room, the bishop asked one of the other priests about someone that was in his mind for a long time. He had a grim expression when he asked this.

"Izuru-dono isn't here, is he?"

"No, I think not. Would you care for me to send one of our disciples to fetch him?"

The bishop thoughtfully took this into consideration and then shook his head. "He must have had a hard day. I'm sure he's sleeping. Let's not bother him."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Luckily, Mika was caught just in time. She tensed when she felt Jiro's hands though. They were fingernails with pointy ends. After all, demons don't need to cut their nails. "Jiro!" But she couldn't say anymore because she winced and held her arms over her stomach once again.

"Mika!" He opened his mouth, his teeth glistening. Mika took mental note that he actually remembered her name for once.

"Why knowing my name all of a sudden?"

His mysterious smile stayed on. He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back onto the floor, forcing her to sit down on just as pointy rocks. "Sit down, Mika. I want to have a talk."

_Could've done that standing,_ she thought. _Baka Jiro._

He took a seat beside her and threw his arm across her shoulder. "Mika, I've been wondering for some time. You think I'm brainless, right?"

She nodded, even though she didn't intend to. "Uh no… um…"

He laid his head on her. "It's okay. I think the same for humans too. I've been… really selfish."

_So have I,_ she thought.

"It's okay Jiro. I mean, the wedding wasn't so bad. Even though it was messed up at the end, it was fun pretending to be your wife for five seconds." She studied his face for a moment before adding, "Ten minutes, I mean."

"I don't mean that." He took a whiff of her scent. "It's just that you smell really nice." His arm left her shoulder. "I know why. When the dragon came, I knew already. You're…"

Perhaps, at that moment, Mika's image of Jiro might have slighted a bit. Maybe she began to think of him not as an annoying pest, such as herself, but a friend. Or maybe, she began to respect his feelings of affection, whether they actually existed or not. She shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She stood up, but Jiro's firm hold on her hand told her that it wasn't time for her to leave yet.

"You're going to be a mother soon, aren't you?"

Mika gave him a weak smile. "Maybe," she said, after a while.

He grinned. "Don't worry, the baby's safe. But the poison's still there." His other hand reached up and touched her head. "You've been working hard, haven't you?"

'_Oi, Mika. You don't have to work so hard,' he said._

_She shook her head. 'I like to!'_

_He smiled. A childish grin, but nevertheless, attractive and charming. But before she knew it, she was being patted on the head like a puppy. In a nice way, she felt like work was more fun than ever. A small tint of red formed on her cheeks. His hand was warm and small. _

'_You've been working hard, haven't you?'_

:music:[URL=.com/watch?v=xdtIH-vUwPE&feature=related]Sora no Mukou[/URL]

"I… I don't want to have the baby," she blubbered, and looked up, but instead of Jiro's face, there was Sesshoumaru's face. Embarrassed, she began to back away, but his gaze held her in place.

There was only a simple, obvious question that emerged from his mouth. "Why?"

_Because I never asked for it,_ her selfish heart told her. But she wasn't about to say that to him. Instead, she said in a whisper, "I'm scared."

"It'll be painless," he said sarcastically.

"No it won't be."

"How do you know?"

"I'd like to ask you," she snapped. Then she bit her tongue. She didn't mean to shout. "Sorry."

"I've been here longer than you," he explained.

"True."

Her face gradually grew redder. Part of it was from the poison, but mostly from her admiration of Sesshoumaru. Yes, it was not only love. It was envy and the respect she held high in a place where no one could touch for him. Sometimes, she thought how hard it was for anyone to like someone like him in this way. He wasn't the nicest person and yet, she often wanted to be like him.

Strong, full of pride, someone who could hold his or her head high. Someone who can protect anyone easily. Someone she had never been able to be.

But now she realized something.

In those nightmares of hers, somewhere in those dark caves and black lights. There was a path of light, sometimes a warm golden, or maybe a laughing blue sun. In the horror-ish dreams, they were always there, unconsciously there. You could say the happy side of her dreams.

And, at that moment, she knew one of those lights, whether blue or gold, or white, or purple, one of them was Sesshoumaru's. A strong light, like an arm that would guide her back to the way to righteous.

Unknowingly, while tangled in her thoughts, her blush subsided.

"You aren't not red anymore," he pointed out.

Mika smiled. "I guess not."

She faced him, who turned his head away. Her smile did not waver. Maybe there would be a day where she would be able a light in his heart too, a path in his nightmares. Perhaps, he would even look at her, the way he looked at him.

_I'll wait,_ she thought.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When the sunlight sneaked its way past the evil shades of the leaves cast off to the floor, Mika awoke. She was in the same spot she had been last night, before she got up to drink water. Did Jiro or Sesshoumaru put her back there? Or did she sleepwalk? Either way, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and was about to get up when she screamed.

Rin and Jaken came running over. "What's wrong?" they shrieked in respond.

Her hands were on her stomach. "Is it me, or is my stomach growing?"

The little girl stood next to her, tiptoeing to confirm her fears. "I think its grown five feet longer."

Jaken shook his rod. "You mean five inches. It's clearly five inches bigger."

Mika glared at them angrily. "Okay, I don't care how big you think it is. I just want to know if it looks bigger to you."

They nodded.

"Does that mean I'll have to lug this big stomach everywhere?"

"I suppose, Mika-san," Rin said. "Sesshoumaru-sama said it'll be a while before _they_ come out."

The miko girl shook her head frantically. "You're thinking too far! I don't want to go there!"

Just then, Sesshoumaru had stepped into their conversation. He briefly glanced at Mika before he eyed his two followers as a signal that it was time to go. She stood up and then remembered about the poison. But she didn't feel anything…

"What's wrong?" Sesshoumaru asked, still walking. His superior ears must have caught up the sudden halt of her footsteps.

"I don't feel so weak anymore."

There was a moment of silence before Sesshoumaru said, "Check your neck."

"Eh?" She reached up and searched the soft skin of her neck. Myoga, who seem to have been resting mysteriously somewhere else in the night before. He examined her neck and began to slobber wildly at his tiny opening called a mouth. "There seems to be teeth marks on you. Feel any itchy yet?"

Mika scratched the skin. Then it came back to her.

Why she had ended up at Sesshoumaru's side after speaking with Jiro; after all, she was clearly by his side, his hand wrapped tightly around hers. She remembered that Jiro knew all along she was pregnant with a child and that she had been poisoned. Knowing that, he must have felt bad about what he did before. To make up for it, he must have sucked the poison out and left her with Sesshoumaru.

_Thank you, Jiro. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything in return for you._

She looked up and stuck her tongue out at everyone. "I got something on my face or what?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Onii-chan! It's time to wake up!"

Kyoko's voice was louder than all the birds combined in the world. Well, that's what Bankotsu thought. He clamped his hands over his ears and tried to take an extra minute of eye shutting. But Kyoko was just as stubborn as Mika. She knelt down and picked up some sticks. And soon, Bankotsu was out of his dirt bed and onto his feet, with a few sores on his head and back.

"Stupid kids," he murmured.

"I heard that, Onii-chan!"

He let his face plummet into the palm of his hand. He didn't know which part of Kyoko was worse. The part that acted like an energetic sister, like right now, or a mysterious know-it-all who calls him Papa. But he knew one thing for sure; he would rather have Mika by his side than Kyoko. He edged away as Kyoko flung her arms over his neck.

"Carry me!"

"No," he growled. "I'm not your dad or anything. Go home."

Kyoko shrugged. "I'll drag you back to the temple if you don't carry me!"

"You can't anyway," he said. "You're too small."

"I have big muscles!" she persisted, pulling up a black sleeve. She clenched her fist so that her muscles would come out, but her arm was about masculine as a thin chicken bone.

Bankotsu was about to point out that she didn't even have any when all of a sudden, the ground shook. A set of goose bumps popped up on his arm. That meant bad news. He spun around, waiting for whatever caused the quake to show its pathetic self. His other hand drew Banryuu from the ground.

Three dragons, two of them being a cold purple tint, with spikes running all over the side of its body snarled viciously at them. The middle, which seemed to have a sense of authority over the two, was smaller in size. Bankotsu deduced her to be a leading female. That dragon was a red color instead and a pearl was set in the middle of its head. Her long whiskers seemed to be stone against the coming wind.

Kyoko clung to Bankotsu's side as the two dragons targeted the tiny girl. Obviously, they had mistaken her for Mika. Bankotsu suspected so as well, because he still remembered when he first laid eyes on a real dragon. He smirked at them as the female charged.

With a professional slash, he slit the throat, then all the way to her thighs. Having been split in half, the female lay dead on the floor, while the two remaining celestial beings shrieked. He assumed they were her mates or something. Kyoko shut her eyes and clung on even tighter when she heard the blood spray.

Then, it was over. She let go of his leg and looked around her. It was a horrible scene, but at least they weren't going to eat anybody now. She clapped weakly for Bankotsu. "_Sugoi_, Onii-chan! Um…"

He wiped off some blood that had splattered onto his cheek and smelled his hand. It stunk; even worse than the blood of humans. "Gross," he commented, pulling out Banryuu from the last blue dragon's corpse. He faced Kyoko and watched her grimace as she made her way through the stench. When she was over by his side, he stared at her blankly.

"You aren't scared?" he asked.

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "No." Then she yawned, stretching into the sky. "I'm hungry, Onii-chan. Can we get something to eat?"

Bankotsu twitched his eye. He gritted his teeth and was about to swing the blade at her head but he stopped himself just in time. He told himself constantly, as he suppressed his urges to torture the girl like the way she was torturing him with her stupid requests, that she was just an ignorant girl. And the only reason she was alive was because he hadn't taken her life yet…

"Onii-chan! Look! There's another Onii-chan!" Running past the half dead boy, she peeped behind a tree and found a certain Jiro resting on the trunk.

He was sweating buckets, (literally) and his face was pale white. Apparently, when you suck poison from a girl you practically sucked too much from, you can get the affects of the poison yourself. After all, he was not immune to poisons like Mister All-mighty Sesshoumaru. But instead of in agony, he seemed to be off in Dreamland, dreaming about Mika… and some thoughts that aren't very appropriate to write down at this time.

"It's you," Bankotsu said.

Jiro sat up straight when he heard his voice. He flashed his pearly whites at him, of course in an aggression manner. "Another rival!"

"You're crazy right? There's no way you'd be my rival…" He scratched his head and put himself in Jiro's shoes. Then the answers came to him… like a puzzle that had been scattered over the floor, ready to be solved by a master of puzzles.

"Mika-chan… I'll never hand her over to you or Sesshoumaru!" He jumped up, only to sit back down because the poison was tumbling in his stomach around and round as he moved.

"Mika?" His memory was dim of the diseased girl. "Who's that?"

His eyes sparkled as he recalled _his_ memories of Mika. "That's good if you've forgotten—"

"Oh, Mika. That annoying miko, right?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"ACHOO!"

Sesshoumaru shot Mika a skeptical look. "Are you sure you aren't just pregnant?"

Mika chuckled, patting her stomach. "Don't worry, I'm fine! I just had a feeling someone was talking about me…"

~O~O~O~O~O~

Someone jerked Izuru awake. Or was it the sharp fear that stabbed him several times? Either way, he was now conscious again. His eyes searched the ceiling of his familiar room. But then, all of a sudden, a white snake blocks his view. Screaming, he clawed at the floor and backed away, but two golden eyes gawk at him before he could do a thing.

"Don't move," her tone of grave meaning. Her sleeve was stretched out, the purple fabric drooping to the floor like the curtains of a window. A serpent, very much like the one that was sitting on his chest sprouted out from somewhere in that sleeve. Her eyes were lifeless and dull, her mouth pulled into a tight frown. Her hair was still, but even without the wind adding a dramatic effect, it was obvious she wasn't happy, not one bit.

Izuru didn't move. But he did speak. She didn't say anything about not talking after all. "Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare," she replied. But that cliché didn't seem to be a sarcastic one, considering how angry she looked. Izuru then asked, "What do you need from me?"

"You poisoned a miko," the woman replied. Her cherry mouth emphasized on each word. And each time her tongue created a word, the snake hissed at Izuru menacingly. He swallowed before he prepared his answer in dialect.

"No, I didn't poison anyone."

She narrowed her eyes. The snake coiled its tail around his neck in a flash. It held its fangs over his neck, the sharp end touching his neck. He repeated his nervous habit of swallowing and said, "Okay, I ordered the poisoning. But I wasn't the one who actually did it. It was a joke, I swear—"

Before another word escaped his mouth, the snake bit down on that ungrateful man. The blood seeped out and he could feel his neck being squeezed. The snake didn't stop when it reached his major blood vessels either. It kept on biting, searching for his bones, and when the serpent found them, that was when the pain began. The agony ran down his neck to his waist as the poison, a deadlier one than the type he inserted in Mika, made its way to his reproductive system. Of course, now he could not have children.

"Next would be your heart," she said. "I always liked hearing the sound of your little red muscles wilting away."

He gawked at the woman before him and bit his lip. He couldn't die here. He had much to do, much to learn. Especially about that village. And concerning the miko that had arrived earlier named Kikyo… he was very interested in her as well. He knew that miko was no alive as _he._ So to the woman of snakes, he grinned. A smirk of victory and of sly schemes.

And then he laughed.

"Too bad. You lost."

The woman cocked her head at him. "What?"

"The game has just begun!!!"

With that, his eyeballs rolled to the back and his arms fell limp. His mouth fell open, the once red blood now a nasty hue of green. The woman stood there in shock, watching as the body, empty without a soul turned to dust. The snake slid out of the dusty clothes and returned to its owner. She clamped her teeth together.

The real culprit was still out there.

Waiting. Planning something. And she knew it couldn't be good.

_In the darkness, a smile lingered for a second before the blackness resumed its claim over light…_

~O~O~O~O~O~

Could dead people have nightmares?

Considering how Bankotsu had horrible dreams, the answer is yes. So why wouldn't Kikyo have dreams such as those too?

Oh, and the dreams were about her killing a special someone. Perhaps a silver eared hanyou would be the precise description?

Sweat; or what seemed to imitate sweat soaked the thin blankets as Kikyo sat up in the strange futon she hadn't slept in fifty years. She insisted to the nuns she needed none, but before the words came out of her mouth, she decided that would raise too much suspicion. She got to her feet and made her way to Kohaku, who was resting peacefully on the refreshingly cool floor.

She touched his head softly and began to shake him awake. His brown eyes soon stared at hers and he got up, rubbing his eyes with somewhat clean fingers.

"Kikyo-sama! What's the matter? You're dripping of…" He searched for the long-forgotten word in his mind and found it in a few seconds. "Dripping of sweat?"

"Only what seems like it," she reminded him. "Never mind that. We must get out of here."

"Why Kikyo-sama? What's wrong?"

She gestured to the temple doors with her head. Her silky black bangs covered an eye as she shook her head to get it out of the way. "The temple. I had a bad dream, and I don't have it very often these days. That means this place is bad news." She blinked twice before adding, "Actually, I thought this place wasn't so pleasant in the beginning. I'm sorry I forced you to come with me."

He smiled, his freckles showing up in the little light there was in her room. "No, I don't mind Kikyo-sama. But I do wonder why," he asked. "Wasn't this temple focused on Midoriko?"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him up when a sound approached outside the door. Now, her voice was a whisper. "Midoriko's secrets aren't worth our lives. At least, not until Naraku is dead."

He nodded. "I suppose so…"

As the miko with high awareness of her surroundings expected, (remember, she could feel and hear Inuyasha a good distance away while he stalked her and she was a regular human) a voice echoed from the hallway. But it wasn't addressing to Kikyo or her so called "assistant". It was just a person speaking to another as they walked by.

"I went into Izuru-sama's room earlier," a young voice belonging to a healthy young male stated. "His clothes were gone but I could see a trace of dust leading to the way to the Main room."

"Ah, I know what happened," another said, presumably another fellow monk. "I bet he used his _magic_ and escaped the intruder. I heard it's a beautiful woman. I want to see her…

"She'll probably reap you before you can ask her out!"

"But still…"

"Did you hear what the High Bishop said? He said the miko-sama staying in the temple is the same priestess that died with the Shikon no Tama in her hands!"

"ACK! That pretty girl? No way! She's not dead!"

"She is! I sprinkled some of the holy powder in the futon the nuns gave her. If she started sweating, that meant she's dead!"

"Creepy… I don't want to know anymore…"

"And guess what? I heard the Bishop knows why she's doing here."

"Well, why is she?"

"To take Midoriko's descendant away. You know, the _Master_. He's a real descendant of Midoriko, I heard."

"The room where he sleeps in all day because he's sick is behind the statue of Midoriko right?"

"Shh! The miko might be awake!"

"Ah, you're right! We'd better go before the High Bishop scolds us again. I don't want to lose any nails like one of the nuns did…"

They scurried off and when Kikyo was sure they were gone, she opened the door and held out her hand to Kohaku. He took it and followed her as they snuck out of the temple. But before they reached the courtyards and the small gardens adorning the floors like ornaments, Kohaku halted and flung aside Kikyo's protective hand.

"Kohaku?"

"Wait, Kikyo-sama." His eyes seemed to be trained on the bushes carrying bitter berries. He then bobbed his head up and down. "I knew it. There are traps here. Lots of them. I'll need to disarm them. But it'll take till morning and once they find out that you're gone…" He turned to her and let his confident expression do the talking.

"But Kohaku, I cannot leave you here alone. You're just a child," she said.

He grinned and held up his scythe with the long chains running to the floor. "You're speaking with a professional demon slayer here, Kikyo-sama. Now go find the secrets of Midoriko. I'll be fine here."

Kikyo lowered her eyes in worry. The times she left someone alone… his or her ended up dead or with the feelings of betrayal. She raised her fist to his face, with the pinky sticking out. "Promise me."

He linked his own finger with hers. "Promise!"

And with one lingering glance, Kikyo ran off to the main prayer room where everyone was gathered, to solve the mysteries herself.


	61. Episode 61

Episode 68: Midoriko's Secret

The night was supposed to be what you can call early, but the sun was already climbing its way back up from its hiding spot behind the mountains. Studying this, Kikyo hurried to the main room. She stood before the large gates and pressed her head toward the door. Sounds of laughter and wine passing were heard. The wine was held in a stone cup with a cork stuck on top of it. It was a common type of pottery and she was certain that was what they were dunking on the floor.

Almost without notice, she heard footsteps approaching from within the room. She slipped into the darkness, like a professional assassin who blends with the night. A monk came out, his face swelling from the alcohol. She watched his nostrils flare as he took in the clean air. And then he collapsed onto the floor.

She nodded slightly as to apologize for stepping over him, and then made her way into the room. Before doing so, she carefully pulled off the outer cloak the drunken disciple was wearing and draped it over her shoulders. She pulled her hair loose, covered one eye partially with her bangs, and licked her lips. It was the worst disguise you could use, but she hoped because of everyone's state they would not think she was recognizable.

She slipped into the room where men laid on their backs, trying to get the remaining drop of wine or sake from the bottle. A few were leaning against the walls and some were gossiping about the women of their dreams. The rest must have been pretty inexperienced with sake, because about five or six where laid out on the floor like roasted chickens. _But neither have I drunk a cup yet…_

Before she could recall a faint memory of Inuyasha trying to get her drunk so that he could "supposedly" steal the Shikon no Tama but failed because Kikyo was quite the stubborn miko, a man of 18 years staggered in her way.

His face was of course, the reddest that a face can get, and pretty swollen too. Perhaps in his drunken state he had been fighting with some fellow monks about a girl. But now he was just interested in the girl with bangs falling over her eyes. He grinned stupidly at her as he took another sip from the sake bottle.

"Hey pretty," he greeted her. She bowed.

"I am a new disciple of Kami-sama here."

"I noticed." He squinted at her and then shook his head. "Do I know you?"

"No," she said, licking her lips once more. She immediately regretted that decision, for that only gave away her lie. After all, it was common sense that if someone licks their lips or touches their nose a lot during a conversation, that probably meant they were lying. But, the man was a stupid man. He saw nothing and only continued on with his blabbering.

"So anyway newbie, you know about Midoriko?"

_Yes I do,_ she thought. _Just not enough. _"What about Midoriko-sama?"

He looked surprised. She was surprised that he was surprised that she didn't know. Was Midoriko a celebrity icon around these parts? "You don't know about Midoriko?"

She waved her hand in the air. "I am new, after all."

"Of course," he said, sniffing. He wiped his nose with the sleeve of his cloak and continued on. "Well, when you're in this temple, it's best you learn all the gossip. Especially about Midoriko." He glanced at her for a reaction, but she gave off only an empty vibe. He shook his head. "You really don't know?"

"No. Does she have some sort of secret?"

He flashed her his pearly whites, which were currently dark yellow. "I like women with brains. Yes, Midoriko has a secret." He leaned in. "_A secret nobody knows._"

"So what's this secret of hers?"

"Are you listening to me? _It's a secret nobody knows._ Not even the High Bishop. Heck, I reckon Kami-sama barely knows. And I heard it has something to do with—" at here he paused and pointed toward the ceiling. His eyes were shining with glee, as if Midoriko was alive and dancing with him with her beautiful face smiling at him.

"The _sora_?" She pointed up as well. "The sky is Midoriko's secret?"

Now everyone was staring at her. Even the High Bishop, who was a much better model for the monks, because he wasn't very drunk. The man who had leaned in toward her began to laugh, his smelly breath of sake spreading all over her. Then the room followed suit. To be included in as much as possible, she faked a giggle.

"Well, it's where _someone_ lives that's supposedly her secret."

Kikyo froze. It wasn't what he said that made her still. It was just a feeling she had right before he said someone that she felt the crawl of a spider on her ankle. And when she dismissed her questions for the drunken brute to examine her foot, she found not a spider but a cobweb.

In that instant, she wanted to yell. Scream out her lungs and yell for help. But then she remembered she was a spy in a camp of soldiers. She could trust no one, at least not at this moment. Her eyes rolled to her left. The drunken man had finally fallen asleep. She examined the people in front of her. They all seemed to be asleep—but she knew they were all standing and laughing before. What was going on?

Well, that wasn't important. The crucial thing was to get out of this sticky spot. She kneeled down and touched her ankle. The spider webs stuck to her finger. She frowned and pulled out a fuda from inside her sleeve. With a slash, she cut the web. She grinned in relief and in the small victory she gained and begun to stand up again when she tumbled forward. She coughed and tasted something bitter in her mouth. She spat and realized the spider web was over her face now. She strained to look at her lower half of her body. It was covered in the material that came out of a spider's bottom. And not just any spider.

Only one man would be willing to go that far. Naraku.

She gritted her teeth and corrected herself. Naraku wasn't a man. He was Lucifer himself, a living nightmare only formed in the shape of a humanoid. She struggled as she looked around her, feeling stupid. The people weren't asleep; they were merely corpses now. The spider webs must have acted as puppet strings and brought down her guard.

Naraku knew that Midoriko's secrets were important to her. And he also knew that her life was in his hands now.

_Not now,_ she thought bitterly. _I have so much to do. So much to know…_

A dreamlike figure appeared before her.

~O~O~O~O~O~

He thought it was creepy.

Yeah, it was definitely creepy, Bankotsu thought as he gave one last glance at the bat demon behind them.

The little girl named Kyoko who looked like Mika seemed to notice nothing. But Bankotsu was certain that Jiro wasn't very comfortable with Bankotsu there. He was constantly shivering or shuffling his feet across the floor as if life was a string and the string was pulling him to a cliff. His eyes were dull and lifeless and he didn't speak. He only followed, followed them.

Finally, he stopped. "What's the matter with you?"

Jiro halted as well. His breath was heavy. "I want to ask you that," he replied. The bat demon's tone was of disgust.

Kyoko slapped her hand gently on his back. "Sick? Don't feel well?"

He ignored her. He continued to glare at Jiro. "You're a monster. I can feel it from you. That aura of death and blood lust is all around you. It's as if you're Death himself," he spat, collapsing to his knees.

Bankotsu stared up to the sky. A sudden urge to go back to the temple surged through him. But why? He had no business there. Plus, Kyoko was content being in the woods.

Perhaps it was those distant bells that kept calling him back…

~O~O~O~O~O~

A woman with brown hair stood next to her. Her scent was none and her hands were motherly warm. She was taller than her and her garments were godly. Her face was angelic, without any sign of wrinkles. Her lips were cherries and her fingers were pleasantly thin. She was beautiful, without a doubt.

But her eyes; a same kind of brown that looked like golden hazel were sad. Mika could see her beauty was only a wall for the tears to hide behind.

"What are you so afraid of?"

Those words didn't come out as warm as Mika thought they would be. They were in fact, chilling like ice. Bonds that she created with people, memories, and the sins she thought she committed reached out as white ribbons, tying her down on the floor. She needed to answer this question. It was crucial for her exit out of this dream.

But she didn't want to. _Please Sesshoumaru. Wake me up…_

Again the cold words were repeated. "What are you so afraid of?"

"I don't know," Mika murmured. The beautiful angel stood still, the silent wind almost playing with her hair passed by. Did she not hear?

She didn't, because her hand reached out to touch her chin. Her hand was now cold. She was so sad looking, yet so peaceful. Was she content with her sadness? Who was she? So many questions prevented her from answering her fear.

"Is it the love that binds you from remembering? Is it the lives you must have taken but you don't remember? Are you afraid to love again, to know the truth? Are you afraid, Hashi Mika?"

This was it.

This was the voice.

The ribbons of white began to soar like birds. They now felt like chains tied with knives that stuck and made homes of holes in her body. She almost thought she heard the cry of a baby.

The figure smiled gently at her. But not as gentle as the woman might have tried to make it, because in that beautiful face of hers, was a pitiful meaning that Mika didn't want to have. She began to tremble in her presence.

"I won't go away until you find the truth again. I won't go, and neither will your memories. You cannot forget Mika."

Her hand, extended was now touching her chest. Her finger was sharp. At once, it pierced and opened the chest of Mika's. A blinding light was replacing her organs. A heart, beating pure and regularly lay at the left; while in the reflection of the beautiful woman's eyes was the black locks surrounding this heart.

"Is this… is _this_ mine?" she cried out suddenly.

The woman gawked at her. Her eyes still captured the black locks binding the heart that could've been pure. "What are you afraid of?"

"I don't know I tell you! I—"

A sneer. That was a scorn she saw flash across the woman's face. "Bankotsu, was his name, was it not?"

Suddenly, she felt pains in her heart. The ugly chains on Mika's pure heart squeezed the organ. She could feel her lungs tighten and her breath short. What was this cold, piercing feeling? What did that boy of malice and hatred have to do with this new nightmare?

She had enough. She wanted to stop these nightmares. Each time she experienced a new one, the more desperate the thought of suicide popped in her mind. The life of the child in her stomach was now a useless wall. If this went on…

"Poor Mika… you abandoned everyone… just for…"

Her voice drifted away, like a boat at sea. But her silent voice, unheard music to Mika's ears was loud enough for her heart to listen. The locks continued to squeeze and tighten.

"So, Hashi Mika. What are you afraid of? Answer me," she said.

Tears that weren't supposed to be there crawled down Mika's cheeks. The pain in her heart was hurting. But it was fading now. Was she waking up?

"_What are you so afraid of Hashi Mika? Is the love you seek for so long that painful for you to bear? Is it the truth that chains you to insanity that you do not dare cut? Or is it the simple selfishness that you hold, the darkness that is blacker than Bankotsu's menace?_

Yes, her voice was starting to have no effect on her. She could feel the fake yet realistic pain in her left side of her chest going away. Sesshoumaru must be waking her up.

"_Why cannot you answer this question Hashi Mika? Why are you so scared? Mika…"_

She could see the golden light that belonged to the inu daiyoukai. She was almost at the end.

But she wasn't.

The dream she was in was one dream she would not wake up from.

Unless…

~O~O~O~O~O~

"You're annoying me," Bankotsu responded, swinging his blade on the neck of Jiro's. The bat demon bit his lip.

"Are you going to take my head off?"

"Maybe, if you don't shut up soon."

Kyoko immediately took this as a yes. She pushed away the blade. "No Papa! No more killing!"

He snickered.

Her determination was good entertainment. Those eyes of innocent golden. That bubbly face that smiled all the time. Bankotsu hated that. He hated all of the living after all.

His blade struck Kyoko with a force that scarred the side of her forehead. She went slamming into the trunk of a tree. Blood was flying as she lay unconscious, only a forgotten victim of his bloodshed frenzy. His blue eyes searched the area before him. Jiro was gone.

Gritting his teeth, he stormed across the forest, looking between the gaps of the trees, and soon the footsteps that were embedded on the leaves revealed his path. He smirked and hurried to find him, the erase the last being of living he knew.

As he left the scene of crime, Kyoko stood up, her fingernails scraping the wood of the tree. Anger fueled her body instead of the watery substance that became of the food she digested earlier. She made her way silently, stalking Bankotsu with the help of _his _footprints, all the while with a right hand curled in a fist. Her eyes were a cold golden.

"I won't let you go Papa. Never."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Inu…yasha? Why—what are you doing here?" she bellowed, her face and body entangled in silver cobwebs. About most of these cobwebs were over her body, except her ankles, which were moving slightly. It was a surprise this mummified miko could still see Inuyasha. Or maybe it was because her senses were always on high alert.

Indeed, the shadow was of her former lover, Inuyasha. He had foolishly entered into this mansion of spider material without knowing its dangers. One of them was the tendency to sap away all your energy and immobilize you until you gave up your life.

He was already tangled with the silvery thread. His beautiful red kimono was now only white with the webs and his hair wasn't much of a difference from the thread. But his claws somehow slashed the thread apart and he made through. His arms wrapped around Kikyo like a mother wraps around a child, enveloping her in a safe aura. She closed her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

She prepared to scold him. "You shouldn't have come. Naraku was using me to lure you out, most likely."

"Ha," he said softly. "I'll just cut him down!"

"Even if you can cut him down with your fang sword, can you get us out of here?"

He looked sort of silly as he thought. "No. But I'll think of something."

"I already cut down many cobwebs. I have to say I wasted my fudas. We can never get out of here. Maybe you, but I cannot." The flicker of small hope she had to defeat Naraku easily faded. A tear rolled down her cheek. "You should go ahead and leave—"

He was staring at her as if she were some machine that he had never seen before. "What's the matter?"

"You're crying," he said.

"I am not crying. I cannot cry."

Inuyasha shook his head. "No I meant something else." He blinked. "You feel warm," he said.

She frowned. "This is no time to be intimate. I am a clay doll."

Kikyo watched his face turn red. "I didn't mean that either. I meant you felt…"

"Go on," she said gently.

"You feel _real_."

Moments later, Inuyasha was busy rubbing his cheek that had been slapped with. Kikyo was now trying to get out of the webs, trying to push those words of his out of her mind. Obviously, he meant she felt like the real Kikyo, not some fake duplicate, but a feeling of friendship and closeness surrounded her as she slit a few more webs with some leftover fudas she had. Just like back them, those two only, back to back fighting their way out of things their own way.

Speaking of which, this made Kikyo feel envy toward her reincarnation. In many ways, she flawed when compared to her. She wasn't as openhearted as her anymore. She was silent and rarely made jokes around with people. She was kind, but she wasn't so naïve to help a crying child in a cave where miko eaters dwelled. One thing she most envied of Kagome was her willful trust in Inuyasha. Her trust wavered and faded when she died, recovered and put back together when she realized Naraku had killed her, but what was left of the real Kikyo? And her love… was it anything compared to Kagome, who gave up most of her life to help bring back the Shikon no Tama? Was her will to not give up more powerful that Kikyo?

_The good is bad, but the bad is also good. Beautiful is ugly, but ugly is beautiful. Opposites… yet so alike. Am I and Kagome like that?_

As she watched the threads reconnect themselves, an aura of doom surrounded her, twisted hands around her throat as if it were going to choke her. She felt totally hopeless, lifeless, and felt the void inside her reopen. There was no way she could regain her human feelings. It was foolish to imagine that she could be human again.

After all, you couldn't bring back the dead.

And you only get one life. She turned to Inuyasha. His life was still intact, still pure and beautiful. If he could spend it laughing with his friends and her reincarnation Kagome, then so it would be. She would make sure that smile of hope would never fade and would stay there on his face.

She held a hand close to her heart. As an unfortunate miko, nothing ever was right for her. She was always falling off cliffs, always near-death, always being the one helpless and the one in distress. But she felt Fate could grant this wish of hers. So she prayed silently and swiftly for Inuyasha. She prayed that his childish joy would never go away. She prayed and prayed and finally reached a decision.

"Inuyasha," she called out to him gently. She heard the sound of his footsteps nearing her. "Don't move. I have a plan, and it's not a good idea to have you tangled up."

"What is it?"

"I'm going to wrap the remaining fudas on your charm. I'll force my spiritual energy in it. It should let you escape this wretched building."

"What about you? I can't leave you here!" The tone of his voice was near desperation. He really still loved her to the death. She could almost smile in depression.

"I hid my bow and quiver outside the building. You could give them to me. If I can shoot a Hama no Ya, perhaps two lives would be saved."

She felt his hands wrap around his. They were so warm and real, unlike her clay and hard fingers. She wished she could hug him and smell his scent that gave her a sense of security. But there was no time for that.

"Don't say perhaps." His hands left hers. "I will get you out of here. So just wait!"

Kikyo pulled out the fudas, with minimum difficulty despite their drastic circumstances. They stuck to his charm like magnets, and as soon as the fudas were charged with her powerful energy, Inuyasha leaped out of the spider webs. He was a fireball, wrecking irreplaceable holes as he made his way out of the building.

Inuyasha spotted her longbow immediately. He snatched them up and hurried back into the building. But when he was inside, the area was already only a white mass of spider material. He couldn't even smell Kikyo's scent anymore.

He panicked as the webs gradually grabbed a hold of him. The fudas were losing their charm and he hadn't gotten Kikyo away from this place yet. He bit his lip and tried to move forward. The journey became hard, like he was dragging iron feet through tough snow. Finally, his effort was paid off. He spotted the hue of red from Kikyo's hakama.

With the help of his sharp claws, he charged at the area he saw her pants and ripped through the webs. However, this rescuing wasn't so simple after all. The floor below them collapsed as the statue of Midoriko just crashed onto the wooden boards. Cracks made its way to Kikyo and they began to plummet into the blackness below them.

"K-Kikyo!" Inuyasha cried, reaching out. Kikyo's hand extended too, but their fingers were five inches apart.

She blinked at him. And then her hand fell to her sides. He gasped at her easily broken will. "Kikyo, hold out your hand again! I can—"

Before he could speak a word, he realized what made Kikyo give up. Around her ankle was a tentacle. Soon, her entire body of cobwebs was now curled up inside a ball of muscles.

Again, she was out of his reach.

Again, he was nothing but a useless obstacle.

Again, would her life be in the hands of Naraku.

He heard a sound behind him. A green skirt was all he could see. The scent of homely, clean clothes greeted him. _Kagome huh? Don't come over here… you'll fall in too…_

A sinister laugh echoed throughout the building. A whip from the tentacle brought him back to the floors that hadn't crashed. He winced as he felt a bruise on his wrists and legs. He looked up, and saw Naraku. He was grinning, probably because he finally had Kikyo in his hands. His filthy, dirty hands. He grimaced.

"Naraku!" Kagome and the others exclaimed. She glanced over at him and began to come forward but his expression told her that she had to stay where she was. Receiving the message, she instead drew out an arrow from her own quiver and aimed it at Naraku.

"Let go of Kikyo, Naraku!" she shouted.

Naraku continued to smirk. He studied the prize he obtained in his hands. "Feeling anything Kikyo?" He pronounced her name as if she were some garbage.

She cried out in agony as he squeezed his tentacles around her. It was enough to make everyone cringe. But he didn't seem to want to murder Kikyo around them, because as soon as a gawk was swept over them, he disappeared like mist.

Along with the misfortunate priestess.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Jiro had to rest. If he didn't soon, he was going to collapse and die of exhaustion.

But then again, it was worse if his head was severed by that freak Bankotsu. He spat and curled his fingers into a fist. He'd rather die with his legs falling off.

He began to run faster. Bankotsu was sure fast on his feet despite his race as a human. He shook his head, sweat beads flying off in all directions. He was a dead guy, not a human. He had to remember that.

Worry kept coming back to him. He didn't draw out all of the poison in Mika. Surely the poison would hurt the fetus. There was enough to go back into her blood. But then again, he didn't have to be so pessimistic about things. She was going to be fine. Sesshoumaru was going to take care of her. He knew he would at least keep her alive until the baby was born.

He remembered Mika's tearful face. Her dry cheek, yet stained with tears that had fallen before. Her tired eyes, but cheerful and hopeful for the best. And her bubbling personality.

Just thinking about her gave him energy. He couldn't wait to see her again.

_That's right_, he told himself. _I have to get better and take Mika back from that white haired jerk before he gets another kid out of her!_

But all of a sudden, the blade was in front of him. He ducked and felt the cut open on his face. How did Bankotsu get in front of him? He was just behind him, he just knew it! It was impossible!

"Surprised aren't you," he said, chuckling to himself. Bankotsu was practically shaking from the thought of him dead.

"I was just taking a break. You would never catch up to me if I wasn't in this state."

"Shut up," he snapped.

"How about you?"

The boy with the long braid responded to that with a slam of Banryuu at the spot he was sitting at. He dodged it with his quick reflexes and quickly let his instincts take over. He charged at him, aiming for the neck where the blood was waiting at, but he punched him in the eye before he could get near. He flew back to a tree, nearly knocking it down. Bankotsu leaped at him for another move.

He clawed at his face, but Bankotsu countered with a kick at a sensitive spot between his legs. Instantly, the bloodlust he was feeling that gave him energy left him. He fell down to his knees and glared at him with hateful eyes. He was calm and not even breaking a sweat. Such a hard opponent to fight, even if he was well and healthy. _He must have been a hired hand when he was alive_, he thought.

"You're not going to be as fun as I thought huh?"

"Fun?" He smirked. "We've only begun."

"Exactly why. I kind of wonder what a waste you'll be."

An insult right to the heart. He gritted his teeth as he spoke. "What?"

"I said "what a waste you'll be". You'll be dying like a pig."

"Pigs are great creatures!"

Bankotsu laughed loudly, clutching a hand to his stomach. "That's 'cause you are one!"

He successfully escaped a close shave from two thrusts with the heavy sword and ducked underneath. He tried an uppercut jab, but Bankotsu blocked it with one hand. The other hand which was gripping Banryuu tightly then tried to cut his body in half. The sword slashed through flesh, but barely missed his stomach. He rolled away.

Jiro now suffered two wounds. Quite a disadvantage for him, considering Bankotsu was still high on nonexistent crack. He pondered about his options. Should he make a run for it? No, he would be killed by then, because he would be held down by his wounds and the poison he had absorbed from Mika. Then the option left was to fight; but then, he would also be killed eventually.

Then an idea came. He would stall time. At least long enough for him to get back on his feet.

"Hey girly boy!" he taunted, choosing an insult carefully. Bankotsu gawked at him with mean eyes. He snagged his attention all right. "Why do you want to kill me anyway?"

"I just don't like your face."

"Oh, so you don't like Mika either?"

"She's even worse. When I see her, I'm going to rip her throat out and pound her face in."

_Ugh, this guy is sick. I hope when he finds Mika, Sesshoumaru will pound __**his**__ face in._

He decided to stall some more as he began to stand back up. A smile worked up on his face. "You like Mika too, don't you?"

Bankotsu scowled. "If she was the last girl on Earth, I rather commit suicide."

He began to feel a bit safer. He was now making jokes. Perhaps he was cooling off?

"I heard she's single!"

"I don't care."

Jiro stabbed a finger in his direction. "Oh yes you do! You're blushing!"

Bankotsu brought down Banryuu into the soil. "You want me to walk over there and give you three black eyes?"

"Idiot, you can't give me more than two!" The bat demon stuck out his tongue.

"Oh yes I can! You'll just have one extra bump on one of them!"

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

"It's common sense!"

"BAKA! BAKA GIRLY BOY!"

"SHUT UP!" Bankotsu began to walk over toward to his side. His fist was raised into the air. Jiro chuckled. At least he didn't have to worry about his head getting sliced off.

But all of a sudden, his fist stopped in midair. He stepped away. "You're not worth it."

"Chicken," he hissed.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When Kyoko came by and spotted Bankotsu and Jiro, she was filled with anxiety. Marks of blood and sword were everywhere. They had been battling. Was she too late?

But instead, she spotted Jiro holding his family's jewels and Bankotsu cracking his knuckles. She felt relief.

"Papa!"

Bankotsu's eyes widened. He dashed into the trees, leaving his sword and Jiro behind, who was still holding his jewels in pain.

After all, he hit pretty hard and accurate.


	62. Episode 62

Episode 69: What Are You Afraid Of, Hashi Mika?

Unless water was thrown on your face by an eight year old girl wearing an orange kimono, you could not wake up from such horrible nightmares. But that was exactly what happened, because as soon as the haunting voice that belonged to that beautiful woman faded, she sprang up, her breath heavy and water trickling down her face. She was furious as she spun around to look for the criminal. Her eyes settled down on Rin, who was holding the bucket as if she wanted to be taken to jail.

Her cute appearance saved her life from an angry seventeen year old priestess.

"Oh Rin! Thanks, you rescued me. I thought I would never wake up."

Rin beamed. "Sesshoumaru-sama said that if he woke you up, you'd just be annoying. But me, he said, I could get away with it!"

Mika's relief was again taken over by fury. "Where's that lump of fur?"

"He's sleeping I think."

Her hands extended out to the child. "May I have that?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"I know you're there."

Mika bit her lip and threw the bucket at Sesshoumaru anyway. He immediately knocked it back at her, the water falling and splashing on her again. She stomped the grass with her feet hard and paced in circles until she was calm enough to proceed with her rant she prepared for the daiyoukai.

"Ahem. You're evil."

Sesshoumaru stayed emotionless as he replied in his usual cold tone. "It's been a fact."

The miko thought she saw a rock flying at her that said "BAKA" but it was an illusion. She continued on. "I meant that you're evil for sending Rin to wake me up so you can escape your punishment!"

"You wanted to be killed as soon as you woke up?" He stood, his one hand cracking a few very sharp nails. "I can fix that—"

Mika realized that she had taken it too far and instantly fell to her knees. "I'm very grateful! I simply just wanted to express my gratitude in my grudgingly manner!"

His scowl deepened as his fur brushed against her shoulder softly, like a feather tickling her in the sensitive spot that could make her laugh like crazy. When he was out of sight, Mika found the nearest, biggest rock and plunged it into the lake Sesshoumaru was by. As the water made an excellent argument with the liquid, Mika sat down next to the tree. Trees were natural and great beings to talk to, because they mostly listened to you and they were very nice when they clapped with their leaves when the wind ran through them.

"It's unfair, you know," Mika started. The trees stayed still, waiting for her to go on, patiently as ever. "I mean, he could be a nice person…" A pain in her throat told her that Sesshoumaru was just too dumb to find a way to perish the human population and was just letting them tag by for the time being. "Okay, so being nice naturally is a long way for him to go but—" she hugged the tree at this moment, "—people change, right?"

An appropriate applaud was presented to Mika when she was done. The leaves rustling against each other were so calming. It helped Mika control her mood swings. She grinned and left the lake to return to her traveling companions.

~O~O~O~O~O~

However, it wasn't very long until Mika's wrath stirred up again. The woman's voice began to sing lullabies around noon and sapped her energy. As she walked like an elderly person behind everyone else, her eyelids pulled down and her arms dangled. She was about to fall to the ground when icy water poured itself onto her. She began to scream.

"Sesshoumaru-sama told me that if you were falling asleep, I had to pour some water on you," Rin explained cheerfully. The poor miko started to think of insults.

The daiyoukai and his loyal follower, an unfortunately unimportant imp demon who was forgotten most of the time continued to tread through the forest. They were immune to their surroundings because the world to them was mostly a forest anyway.

But Mika tried to get through them. She had to, or she would really start considering a live-long slumber. She raced up to them with speedy feet and when she caught up, Sesshoumaru just grabbed her.

Yes, he grabbed her, flung her over his shoulder, and ran to a spring nearby. With a mighty toss, Mika flew over across the crystal clear water and plunged into the surface. Like the rock she had been throwing into the lake earlier, she too, made a beautiful sound with the slap of her body against the liquid. But her face wasn't beautiful when she managed to climb back up to the surface to glare angrily at Sesshoumaru. After all, have you seen a woman beautiful and graceful when they were so ticked off their faces were practically tomatoes?

"SESSHOUMARU!" she screeched, her mouth pausing at each syllable of his name. Sesshoumaru stood still and uncaring. If he had arms, he would've been probably folding them across his chest. He had a victorious sort of expression on his face, except he didn't have a smile.

"Yes?" he asked, as if they were skipping along a cherry-blossomed road like newlyweds. But Mika didn't care for his sarcasm right now.

"IS THERE A PARTICULAR REASON FOR YOU TO THROW ME INTO THE WATER LIKE THIS? CAN'T YOU AT LEAST TOSS ME IN A BIT MORE DELICATELY? I HAVE A BABY IN HERE YOU KNOW!"

"It has not been confirmed."

"YES IT IS YOU STUBBORN MAN! STOP DENYING IT!"

"Hm."

"DON'T "HM" ME! HEY!"

Sesshoumaru turned his back on her and began to walk away.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING? COME BACK! COME… come back—"

"Take a bath."

The miko ducked into the water, because a rock written with the words "BAKA" was flying her way. She blinked. It was an eye trick. "I uh, didn't hear you! I think I got water in my ear!" She began to tip her head to her right.

"You heard me."

Mika rolled her eyes. Men were totally clueless. Haven't they heard about privacy? After all, it wasn't exactly a public thing to do—undressing and washing in front of a guy, of course. "Then go away."

"Why?"

He still hadn't gotten the message. She had to tell him.

"Well, if I'm going to take a bath, I have to undress."

"And?"

"You're a guy?"

"Gender has nothing to do with undressing."

_I'm going to go bald before I reach twenty,_ Mika thought from frustration. "JUST GO AWAY!"

Sesshoumaru walked back to the edge, much closer so he could stare even more intently at her. Maybe he was doing this on purpose.

Then, he said, "Just to let you know before you get strange ideas; I do not have any interest in your naked body. So start bathing."

Mika was too busy looking for a rock to hit her head with to hear. "What?"

Silence lingered for a few moments before Mika spun around, her back facing Sesshoumaru. "You know, that doesn't sound right."

"Do you prefer me undressing you?"

Mika growled. He was so persistent. Why didn't go peek at Rin or something? Not that a child was much of an interest to him.

_What are you afraid of?_

Her back straightened. The voice was coming again. She sneaked a peek at Sesshoumaru behind her. Was it possible that he knew about the voice in her head and was trying to help her? She was confused. What did bath-taking have to do with a creepy voiced woman?

She didn't see a way out of it and it wasn't as if Sesshoumaru could see her body anyway. But just be sure, she kneeled in the water so that the liquid reached her neck. There, she took off her kimono and felt the water wrap its shape-shifting form around her. She played with small waves and felt cozy.

By now, she could hardly feel his stare.

Until he jumped down and felt his finger touching her neck. She screamed.

"YOU PERVERT!" she exclaimed.

But Sesshoumaru was of course, just interested on the strange scar on her back.

"Is this a birthmark?"

Mika took in a deep breath and hid beneath the water surface. When her oxygen was gone, she jumped back up slowly, her eyes peeping around for Sesshoumaru. He was still there.

"What do you want?" she asked, her teeth clenching at every word.

Sesshoumaru was perfectly calm in this situation. Apparently, demons were born without testosterone. Plus, they were also only interested in swords with magical powers like bringing back the dead and killing beings. Oh, and empires and the death of your younger-half brother. And possibly the death of your younger-half brother's arch-nemesis.

He gawked at her for some time. Then he began to walk away.

"Nothing. Never mind. Hurry up and finish your bath. You still stink."

At that point, Mika regretted even bothering to ask him those rhetorical questions.

~O~O~O~O~O~

_I've seen that scar before, _Sesshoumaru thought.

He didn't expect Mika to show up with that though. But her recent actions were certainly awkward. Especially when she refused to wake up no matter how much everyone begged and shook her; and Mika usually woke up to the slightest sound. He remembered her soft whisperings and her inhuman glare when she went nuts with Totosai's leftover swords.

But he couldn't remember at the moment what the scar was. He blinked a few more times, catching Rin running up to Jaken up ahead. The scar did look like a regular scar. Maybe he was just thinking too much. Intelligence was pretty high for him, but it was never his strong points.

Behind him, he could hear Mika's footsteps. They were silent sometimes, almost barely noticeable. He figured she was mad, no—flabbergasted, since her feet sounded like the march of a thousand soldiers. She was almost catching up to him.

He turned, watching her pace madly up to him. But when she passed by, she just collapsed.

Again.

As her hand touched the brittle rock, he heard a sharp cry. Someone had approached Rin in a scary way. But it wasn't only in the direction of Rin's—along his right side vision were two people clothed in black jumping at him. He drew Tenesiga as fast as he could and blocked two slashes from them.

By analyzing their movies, Sesshoumaru concluded that the humans had some ability in fighting. He had to admit, with his mind on his companions, he was momentarily distracted. Their feet were also the same stealthy sound that Mika sometimes made. He kept his distance away from one especially thin one; also making sure that on his right the chunkier one didn't have his foot stuck out. It would've been a shameful act if he got stabbed by mere humans.

But they realized what exactly Sesshoumaru was and disappeared as soon as they grabbed a hold of Mika. He ran after her first, but paused as he turned to the left, watching Rin and Jaken vanish into thin air. He would have to find them later, he told himself, and then went on chasing Mika.

They passed several forests in circles, sometimes they turned to the right, or then to the left. They made swift moves and unpredictable jumps. They crossed thick rivers just as quickly as their pursuer. And finally, they leaped down a small cliff leading down into another forest. But that was when Sesshoumaru's chase stopped.

Several voices laughed as a wooden cage plummeted onto the daiyoukai. All of sudden, his youki was being confined into his system. It was like a bomb that threatened to go on if he moved and soon, he blacked out.

The last thing he saw was a strand of long, black hair.

~O~O~O~O~O~

_Well, well. This was just great._

Of course, being stuck in a dark room with metal bars around him caging poor Mika napping on his lap and himself was not great. It was a disaster! But Sesshoumaru was also known for his sarcasm. Or maybe it was just to loosen up the mood.

However, that wasn't the bad thing. In fact, the worst thing that could happen was if Mika was in labor and Sesshoumaru turned into a helpless human.

Unfortunately, the worst scenario had already happened. If you leave out the Mika crying in pain because a baby was coming out, then yes, it was a horrible situation.

Sesshoumaru, the man with strength to topple a million humans was now a human himself. Just the appearance was striking; his once majestic silver hair a dull black, his nails no longer sharp but without any at all, as if he went and cut them off with a nail cutter from the modern world. His tail, which everyone just called a lump of fur, had mysteriously disappeared from its rightful place on his right shoulder. His face had lost its markings and his pale skin had become quite darker. You could say he held similarity to his half brother, Inuyasha.

When a man also clothed in black opened a door, emitting light into the room for him to glance at his hideously ugly mask, he heard the scorn of a human. Oh how he wished he could rip limb from limb from these arrogant humans.

"Oh, it's a doggie!" the man taunted. Sesshoumaru stayed calm, knowing silence was the best action, not anger and irritation.

"Is he not mad, little doggie?" The man held out a big slab of deer meat that was taken from the stomach of the ill-fortuned animal. "Want a treat doggie? Want a little treat?"

At this moment, as if the voice of the woman could not hold Mika in a dream any longer, she stirred and opened her eyes. "Where are we…?"

The man holding the meat giggled like a silly girl. "Oh, your doggie mate woke up! Hee hee! Ha hoo ha!" Mika frowned. No one had to tell her that his villainous laugh was ridiculous.

Then the man left, shutting the door behind him close, of course. Back in the strange darkness once more, Mika left Sesshoumaru's lap and crawled to the bars. He knew she was doing her best to stay strong, even though all she probably wanted to do was cry.

Finally, she said, "I'll get us out of here. You just rest okay? I know you're having a hard time."

"The bars are made of special metal I suppose. It's confining my youki into my body and if I move too much, I'll end up killing myself."

Mika was shocked. Not because she had never heard him explain in such despairing tones, but because that was those were longest sentences he had ever spoken to her. She couldn't help but feel a little but of bonding between them. She chuckled. "I get it. Your demonic powers just aren't here right now. Make it simple enough for me to understand!"

She began to bang on the bars, but they refused to budge. Then she felt around the edges by sliding her wrists through the openings. When her fingers felt the roundness of a screw, she smiled. "I found it! But I need something small enough to fit in here."

Like instinct, Sesshoumaru found his hand already on Tenesiga's hilt. His hand fit perfectly with the sword; as if the blade belonged to him and him only. He was about to pull it out and lend it to Mika to get out of here, but to stoop that low for a human to help him? Plus, her hands were probably soiled with dirt. His hand began to leave when a voice crept into his mind.

_What are you afraid of, Sesshoumaru?_

His new human hands froze in midair. He bit his lip, his tongue feeling unfamiliar. What was he doing now?

He wasn't a god. He couldn't get out of a place like this alone. How long had it taken him to realize?

There were times to lower down your pride and times to hold strong onto that dignity. When his father asked him that day if he had anyone to protect, he wasn't trying to teach him to become a lowly servant of a human woman. He was simply asking, "Do you have the courage?"

Did he? No, not at this moment, when he was supposed to be helping Mika in her fruitless efforts at breaking out of their prison; he was just a human coward, a powerless being. Before he knew it, his fingers wrapped around the cold fabric once more and drew out the beautiful brother fang of Tessaiga.

"Use Tenesiga," he said, holding it out. He watched Mika look at him uncertainly, as if he gone bonkers himself. She crawled back next to him, just inches away from his face. Her eyes were shining with doubt. He realized that what she was dreaming about was no happy dream.

"You think I'm going to slit your throat as soon as you touch the blade?" he asked, confirming her fear. She blinked a few times before nodding slowly.

She took the blade as fast as she could just in case, arms quivering as she twisted the screw long enough to get one side open. While she was unscrewing the other one, he noticed she was perspiring a lot. She wasn't that nervous a while ago. He wondered what was wrong with her today.

"I got it," she announced quietly, flashing him a glance before helping him up. With only one arm to throw over her shoulder, they began to make their way out of the abandoned building, easily exiting without any sign that they had been sighted. When Mika was absolutely sure that no one could see them, she let him rest against a tree again.

She studied him for a moment, taking him his serious expression that never changed whether he was human or demon. The feeling of admiration ran through her body, warming her up. She blushed and immediately the paranoia was swept away.

"You change moods easily," he pointed out. She agreed by clasping her hands to her face.

"So, shall we go?"

He got back up to his feet and was about to lead the way as usual when Mika held out Tenesiga before him. The smile was still there.

"You never exactly gave it to me, right?"

Sesshoumaru wasn't exactly sure he wanted to touch her hand at that moment so he just handed her the sheath and began to walk. "Hold onto it for a while."

"Lazy," she complained but held it protectively anyway, running after him like a little girl.

But before Mika could speak, or even twitch a muscle, someone jumped behind her, their arm pressing against her throat and the other clamped against her mouth tightly. Within a few seconds, she fell unconscious, Tenesiga dropping onto the floor with a thud.

Sesshoumaru spun around, cautious and alert, but it was too late.

Caught off his guard again, forced to bring down his pride, he lost Mika again.

And without the help of his nose, the only thing he could do was stand helplessly there, feeling the wind blow through the strands of his black hair.

He wondered, as he waited for minutes, maybe an hour or two.

Was this how Inuyasha felt every time his comrades were kidnapped or being endangered?

~O~O~O~O~O~

Mika began to hate this daily routine of being captured, only to have been rescued after ward. As she woke up, she swore to herself that she would refuse to meet any of her kidnapper's demands (whether they had any or not) and get out of here herself. After all, she wanted to be the hero for once too. So as soon as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she stood up and bravely shouted to the faint presence before her:

"Show yourself, you coward!"

And so the person did. It was a girl, she assumed, considering her long, purple hair. It glistened radiantly, even though this place was pretty dark. But all of a sudden, the girl jumped before her. "Her" masculine built body was clearly shown.

"Hi!"

She screamed, feeling cowardly herself. It was a guy! Her arms flew to the front of herself, creating some sort of cool karate stance. "L-let me go or feel-feel the wrath of m-m-my soul!"

He grinned. "Don't you remember me?"

She shook her head. _Maybe I can be a hero some other day,_ she thought, reconsidering her options. "No, I don't."

He pouted, almost making a sorry face but his upturned eyes gave away the act. "But we slept together all the time," he explained.

Mika had enough of this. She was getting out of here! "What do you want with me? And why is everyone targeting me? What have I done to deserve this?"

The boy laughed merrily; a bit unfitting for the situation Mika was in. She studied his features, his purple hair and purple upturned eyes, his gray outfit, and the gauntlets he wore on his hands. He ran a hand through his hair and shot her an evil smirk. "Are you sure you don't remember, _Kimiko?"_

_Kimiko? _She started to feel anxious. The boy seemed pretty certain at naming her like that. But just in case, she stated firmly, "I'm not Kimiko."

"Oh yes you are. Have you been so wrapped up in your fantasies you forgot your own name?"

In an instant, the world around her turned pure white. The woman with the beautiful face and chilling words stood before her, the boy clad in black just in front. Mika then realized that they were in the dream she had hours ago. This boy was no ordinary person.

The boy turned to the woman and chuckled again. "Hey, what's up, _Midoriko_?"

Midoriko? The woman that asked and bugged her so many times about her fear was Midoriko?

"Mind if I play around a bit?" he asked, as if the ghostly figure could respond. But then again, as if this dream was created by him, ugly chains just like the one she had on her hearts, sprung up from the ground. They looked cold to the touch of the fingers, but the boy seemed godly as the chains surrounded them. He began to strut around them, stroking each of them. He grimaced as he noticed that most of them were white.

"Kimiko, this is no good. You need more blackness in your life. Look at this," he said, pulling on a chain. With a smirk, he tugged on it, and it broke. Mika felt a pain in her heart and fell to her knees, watching a blue orb escape from her chest. A distant memory in her mind evaporated, leaving an empty hole where it used to be. Luckily, it was just a mere happy dream she had before, not a real life memory.

Just then, amusement showed up on the boy's face. He had walked over to her deep right, where the ghastly black chains lay. They were rusted, covered in grime as if a savage beast had been leashed by it before. "Ah, here it is. I knew you weren't the goody-two-shoes, Kimiko."

His fingers slithered around the chains and Mika could feel the sensation of a snake wrapping around her. When he squeezed them, she could not breathe. When he scratched them with his nail, she felt as if he had scraped off a muscle from her heart.

"This is so fun, isn't it Kimiko?" He examined the chain before glancing over in her direction. "Hmm, so you still fancy that useless daiyoukai huh?"

_He must mean Sesshoumaru,_ she bitterly mumbled to herself. How could he escape into her dimension of nightmares so easily?

"You could do it too," he said, reading her mind and answering her question. "You just never gave it a try." He left the chain and approached her. "You know, I haven't seen you for ten years. You've grown quite a lot." The boy kneeled beside her and leaned in toward her ear. "But running away from the truth will not erase your _sins_. Right, Hashi Mika?"

She pushed him away and started crawling in the other direction. When he laughed, she got to her feet and began to sprint in the other direction. She needed to get away, but the farther she ran, the more desolate she felt. She was going nowhere, her feet climbing no miles, no inches, not even moving from the spot she was in. Tired and out of breath, she collapsed and watched as the boy came back to her.

"Don't run away from me. I took a lot of time trying to figure out where you were. And now this is how you greet me?" He scowled and reached out to strangle her. "The _Master_ was intent on killing you, you see? But I saved your stupid, pathetic life. And you're coming back to me, no matter what. YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Her eyes turned golden from a fury inside her. She wrenched free from him and glared back into his hideous face. "No, I don't understand. What I do get is that I'm leaving this place!"

And then, she stood straight and tall. She called out to Midoriko, who caused the chains to fall back into the ground. She slipped back into the light and stared back at her. Mika clenched her fists.

"You wanted to know what I was afraid of, right?" She raised a hand to her chest. "Well, let me tell you. I'm afraid of _you!"_

Immediately, the nightmare came crashing down. They returned to reality, the dark room where she had been brought to. And joyfully, Sesshoumaru was there to, standing beside her. She wiped her face with a hand, as if tears were rolling down her cheeks. It seemed that Sesshoumaru was officially her hero and there wasn't a way to steal that position from him.

The boy didn't seem shocked that she broke out of his telepathic grasp though. He had expected it, in fact. But he looked lonely as he saw Sesshoumaru there, his sword Tenesiga out to protect Mika.

"Ah, I got turned down again, didn't I?" He got back on his two feet and snapped his fingers. The building of black light vanished around them and they were back in the forest. "See you later, Kimiko."

And then he was gone.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"So now all we have to do is find Rin and Jaken," Mika reminded Sesshoumaru as they walked along a wet forest path. She hurried to Sesshoumaru, who was leading the front as usual, and tapped his shoulder. "I was wondering; how did you find me without your awesome demon powers?"

Without turning his head, he glanced at her and said, "There was an area where black mistletoe grew. When I stepped onto it, you were there standing in front of that boy with purple hair."

Questions began to arise in Mika's head. "I wonder if there's only mistletoe."

"What do you mean?"

She smiled as she explained. He was speaking more often to her now. "Well, I don't think he's alone. He should have comrades you know. If you assume all of his comrades have abilities like his, then finding them wouldn't be hard if they all used mistletoe or something to perform their hocus-pocus magic whatnot."

Just then, Sesshoumaru stopped walking. "If what you said was correct, then I believe we have ourselves a lead."

Mika giggled and jumped into the air, her hand slapping the empty air as if the clouds were handing her high fives. "Leave the thinking to me!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

The sun was rising over the mountains now. When the sunlight hit the void on the wooden floor, the spider webs disappeared. The low-ranking monks uninvited to the feast last night rose from their futons like machines to a timely routine and began to shuffle to the main room to do their daily prayer. But when they stepped into the room, they screamed at the sight of the rotting corpses.

Immediately, one of the nuns ran behind the fallen statue of Midoriko. An opening was there just as the rumors had said. Curious, she slipped into the crevice and was upon a door. When she pushed onto it, a dark room lay ahead of her. A shadow moved even though the darkness was supposed to camouflage everything.

A boy behind her crept up to her. "Hi," he said. She faced him and screeched when her eyes managed to see that her fellow peers had all fainted from his deathly presence.

"You mind moving for a bit?" he asked, his voice growing dangerously soft.

The nun shook her head, stepping backward, but the air behind her was cold too. After shivering for two more seconds, the nun too then, succumbed to fear and collapsed.

Walking over the nun as if she were already rotting already, the boy knelt before the shadow. His long purple hair twirled into a pile like a snake. His violet eyes glimmered in the dark.

Suddenly, several others with pink, green, dark blue, brown, and black hair slipped into the room. There were a few females, but the rest were men. All of them were clad in the same black outfit with several styles and tastes of clothing attached to places. They all then knelt as well.

In overlapping tones, they greeted the silhouette.


	63. Episode 63: Golden Chains

Episode 70: _Saigo no Hikari_

The temple collapsed to the ground in seconds. And when it did, the traps Kohaku had been trying to disable were set off. Shurikens and flying knives with very sharp edges came at him like missiles. He dodged them without breathing, but as soon as he stepped on the floor, strings would be broken from the weight of his body and more would come out.

Avoiding those weapons made it hard for him to keep it up for long. In addition to this charade of sharp things, there were men, most likely monks running in his directions with more sticks with pointy ends.

The thought of not being killed by these was not the only thing lingering in his mind. It was Kikyo. He knew that she was a very cautious person and she was clever enough to slip by these people. Plus, he knew today was a day where the monks and priests would slack off, so something bad must have happened for this catastrophe to happen.

"There he is! The boy wearing the green suit! Get him!"

"Are you sure he's the boy that was with that _miko_?"

"Yeah, that's him!"

The voices confirmed that something wrong had happened. Kohaku realized that he needed to evacuate this place immediately. As soon as he managed to get away from the traps by leaping into the air and into the bushes with a few scars, he rolled down the stairs that led to the end of the village. When he got to his feet, he pulled out his chain scythe and began to run.

Trees of all sizes but mainly big, towering giants were a blur to him as he ran. Footsteps of people running after him in anger were also nostalgic in a bad way. He hated running; it was a cowardly thing to do and besides, what about Kikyo? Was she safe? Had she been captured by these men? What was going on?

But the only thing he could do was run. Because that was the thing that Kikyo would've told him. She told him that his life was more important that hers. And even if her bones were crushed and her face was torn from her body in front of him, he needed to live. His shard, the last Shikon no Kakera that was far away from Naraku's clutches, was the ultimate downfall for him. It was the weapon to bring him down; it needed to stay pure and white.

He ducked into an opening as he ran by. It was to his right, and when he was hidden, he crept down to a creek. He jumped over it and continued on his way, making sure his feet were silent and yet swift. Those feet of his carried him a distance away from the foolish monks but they also carried him to a certain group of two people.

Like a modern baseball player, he had to thrust his leg out in front of him, skidding out in a stop to make sure he didn't bump into them.

He looked up and made sure he wasn't going blind. After all, Inuyasha's brother was supposed to be a daiyoukai. Instead, he had long black hair and his only hand had no sharp nails. He no longer seemed majestic and just by staring at his few differences; he looked as if he were a few inches shorter.

There was also a girl next to him. She was at an average height for her age, perhaps a few centimeters ahead of her growth spurt. Her black hair was the same when Kikyo had hers down, only her bangs seemed closer to her face. Her eyes were almost a golden; something that everyone always thought when her eyes were actually brown.

He could hear his heart pounding when the girl saw him and began making her way over. He began to back away and prepared a horrible excuse but it was unneeded. After all, was Mika ever unfriendly?

"Hey! How are you! Wait," she said, poking a finger to her forehead. "I don't know you, do I? Well anyway… I'm Mika!" She held out a hand. He took it with the hand that didn't carry a hidden sword inside the gauntlet he had stashed away and now wore when he escaped from Naraku.

"I'm… Kohaku…"

But Mika's smile was too big for him to resist being uncomfortable around. When she asked him to repeat louder and clearer, he ended up yelling his name. She giggled and dragged him over to Sesshoumaru. The funny thing was that he felt shy. Maybe it was because her kindness was the showy and surprising type, unlike the silent, angelic Kikyo kindness.

"Oi, Sesshoumaru! You don't mind another guy traveling with us right?"

Sesshoumaru looked over at her sleepily. Kohaku felt overwhelmed by their presences. "Um…" he started, but he was interrupted by Mika's enthusiasm and Sesshoumaru's reply.

"I mind," Sesshoumaru answered without hesitation.

Mika ran over to his side and patted his head. "Don't be a grouch bag and say yes! Kohaku wants to stay, doesn't he?"

Kohaku shook his head. "I…uh…. I can go if you want…"

But when Sesshoumaru heard his name he glanced over at Kohaku sharply. "You were with Naraku, didn't you?"

The youkai taijiya blinked several times. "I was… forced… under my will…" Immediately, the mood became serious and depressing. But the more Mika smiled, the mood faded away and Kohaku began to smile himself. He even chuckled a little.

"Why are you laughing?" Mika asked.

"You smile funny," he said.

Mika let go of Kohaku's wrist and put two fingers in her mouth. Pulling the sides of her mouth, she wiggled her tongue at him. "No, thish ish a hunny ile!"

He broke into laughter as soon as Mika's tongue stuck out at him. And when he was done, he realized he had laughed because it reminded of someone close to him. Someone he used to hang out with and idolize.

His eyes closed for a brief memory recall. He was at home, sitting on the platform, watching Kirara toss her tail around. Her fur was tickling his nose at the time and he often sneezed from the furs that fell out. But the darling nekomata never ceased to amuse him with her little cute dances.

He remembered a girl wearing a green and pink kimono walking out. She would sit down beside him, Kirara pausing in her action to leap onto her shoulder. And when Kohaku would turn around, she would put the fingers in her mouth and start doing the motion that Mika had done with her tongue. In minutes, they would be laughing and Kohaku would beg his sister to stop doing that, calling out her name "Sango"…

"Well, wait here guys. I'm going to get us some food," Mika announced.

"How come you get the food and not… him?" Kohaku asked, wondering whether to call Sesshoumaru by his name or adding an honorific to it.

Mika hit the palm of her hand with a fist. "No really! I never thought of that!" She turned to Sesshoumaru. "Hey, why don't you get the food?"

"I may be turned into a disgusting human like you, but I am not low enough to fetch food for everyone else. Especially, _you_," he said, emphasizing on the "you" and glaring at Mika at that instant.

The miko shot him an equally angry look. "What do you mean, "you"?" What's so disgusting about me?"

His eyes lowered but quickly landed back on her face. "Never mind."

But that wasn't enough to bring her back into a good mood. "Fine! I'll just get food for Kohaku and myself. You can starve for all I care, you jerk!"

Kohaku couldn't suppress giggles as she passed by. Luckily, she was too mad to hear that he was laughing at her. When she was some distance away, he broke into laughter, until Sesshoumaru demanded silence. But the silence in the dark forest was no fun and soon, Kohaku began to talk again.

"Um, so… why are you a… a… a human?" he spluttered, fearful of what outcome Sesshoumaru was going to give him if he hit the wrong spot.

"I am not obliged to answer that question."

_Fancy words…_ he thought, striking his foot into the dirt and drawing circles with his boot. "Is Mika-san your friend?"

"I hope you don't think that."

"Why?" he asked, though he was pretty sure that he meant that he'd kill him if he mentioned Mika some more.

"I still have my arm and Tenesiga. And Tenesiga… can take away your life."

At once, he backed away to the tree and stayed out of his sight until the miko came back. As she made her way through the twisting trunks and roots, she found it peculiar that Kohaku was all the way up in the branches, his hands clutching the tree for protection. Then she realized it was Sesshoumaru's fault. Growling, she told Kohaku to come down, set down the basket of food she earned with some farmer work in the village ahead, and stomped to Sesshoumaru.

"Just what is your problem?" she cried, flinging her arms in the air. Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes. She flinched.

"I saw that," she spat out.

"Saw what?"

She knelt down and grabbed his collar. "I SAW YOU ROLL YOUR EYES AT ME!"

Kohaku, who was relieved he made the decision to stay up in the treetops, watched silently as Mika had a quarrel with herself. It was a quarrel with herself, because Sesshoumaru mostly replied with eye rolling actions and glares.

His eyes widened when he saw Mika shake him against the tree, his head hitting the trunk many times. Kohaku almost screamed. The girl was worse than Sesshoumaru, he told himself and made sure he was several inches farther than he was before.

After she settled down, they sat together leaning in for the fire's warmth. Feeling cozy, Kohaku asked Mika one of his questions.

"Mika-san, should I call him by his name or with an honorific?"

Mika wiped away the grease from the chicken leg she was chomping at. She shrugged and replied, "Just call him by his name. He doesn't mind, right Sesshoumaru?"

But the fury that blew out the fire they were sitting at that arose from him was enough to tell Kohaku that he minded very much. He chuckled and inched a bit closer to the tree. "Um, so what are you guys doing out here?"

Sesshoumaru flashed him a suspicious look. "Gathering information for Naraku?"

Kohaku shook his head. "N-No! I ran away from him… sort of…"

"I've been wondering who Naraku is for a while. You never told me who he is, you know, Sesshoumaru."

The daiyoukai, now reduced to a human only said, "It's too long of a story to tell."

Mika grimaced. "Everything's too long for you to say. That's why you've got a mouth."

"Yes, and is that why you're so annoying?"

"You know, just because I'm stuck with you doesn't mean you have to be so mean! Didn't your dad ever teach you a lesson?"

"My father is dead and I'd appreciate it if you'd stay silent about it."

"You're so hard to talk to!"

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Well I do!"

Kohaku jumped up to his feet and stood on the ashes of the remains of their fire. The wood hadn't finished burning out, so the fire still burned his feet like a newly made sword pressed against his toes. But he had to stand in the middle to stop Mika from yelling louder than she should be because of the monks nearby.

"M-Mika-san! Please! Don't shout so loud! There's these evil monks next door and if they hear us they'll… they're looking for me, I bet."

Sesshoumaru's hand flew to his sword. "Then more the reason you should be dead."

Kohaku leaped out of harm's way as the sword slashed the air where he was. The air immediately opened to show a thin yet dark, purple crescent. It sucked up the air in seconds and when he was at full height, an aura much like his youkai yoki appeared. The man was certainly deadly, even when he was at a disadvantage. Towering over Kohaku, he held the blade before him, the gleam almost blinding his eyes.

He took out his own weapons; the scythes and held them out before himself for protection. "Am I that hostile in your eyes?"

Sesshoumaru took a step forward, his bangs knocking against his forehead gently. "Your smell aggravates me."

"How do you know how I smell? You're a human now, aren't you?" He took another step backward.

Without an answer, the black-haired Sesshoumaru raced at Kohaku. He took a swift swipe at his face, only to cut the air again. Kohaku jumped behind tree and began to run around another. As he traced a circle with his soft footprints, he made his way back toward the camp. If he was lucky, the wood would still be on fire. With a weapon like that, he could easily defend himself.

_Probably,_ his little doubting voice warned him. He shook his head and leaped for the wood. When his fingers wrapped around the twigs, he held it before his eyes. He probed the stick carefully with his fingers and grinned when he felt a sting. As his finger danced away back to the cool air, he clutched the wood tightly and threw the stick at the incoming Sesshoumaru.

The twig flew straight at him, defying gravity and all the laws that Newton was but had not proclaimed yet. But it seemed that God had blessed him enough for him to dodge it with ease. No, he didn't dodge it; he caught it with his bare hands, his hands that were now defenseless from the true pains of the world. And yet, he threw it away like a pest that was flying around in his face.

Kohaku was stunned. He could barely stand more than two centimeters to the fire. But he, Sesshoumaru, now a measly human with black hair holding a youkai fang, just caught a twig still on fire? "D-Didn't that sting you?"

Sesshoumaru smirked. "My pride is greater than the fear of losing my only hand to a small fire." He charged at him again, his speed great. The tip of his sword reached his nose in seconds, and he had to avoid the possible hole in his face by sliding toward the earth. But as soon as Sesshoumaru spotted him taking refuge in the sand, he grabbed the collar of his shirt and began to pull him up in the air, when the voice of Mika's came.

"HELP! SESSHOUMARU, HELP ME!"

Immediately, Sesshoumaru forgot about being hostile toward Kohaku and left him on the floor again. He raced back to the trees a few feet ahead and almost opened his mouth in shock when Mika came swinging into his face from a tree like a monkey.

Her hair was like a drapery as she shouted, "BOO!" at him. He sheathed his sword and scowled at her.

"What are you doing up there?"

She smiled, admiring his handsome view (at least in her female eyes). "I was bored so I decided to climb the tree."

"Get down here."

"You're not my mom," she retorted and tried reaching for another branch to hoist herself up. Her growing stomach carrying the fetus prevented her from bending. She ended up dangling like a string after two attempts. She chuckled weakly as she watched Sesshoumaru glare at her. "I guess this wasn't a good idea."

"I'm going to leave you there," he said, turning around on his heel and moving back toward the campsite.

Mika protested, of course, in this manner of speaking: "HEY! I'M GOING THROUGH A STAGE HERE! COME BACK! Please…"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Seriously, treat me more delicately here!" Mika complained, stomping her foot on the floor. It didn't make matters better. "I'm a lady and I'm…" She glanced at the sleeping Kohaku by the tree and shrugged. "You know…"

Sesshoumaru shot her stomach a look. "How long has it been since your pre—"

At this, Kohaku stirred and sat up. Mika knelt down and picked up a stone. She flung it at Sesshoumaru in the course of five seconds and whistled a random tune as Sesshoumaru pulled Tenesiga out of its sheath. The youkai taijiya went turned away from them, still asleep. She sighed and smiled at Sesshoumaru.

"The second the baby comes out, I'm going to slaughter you."

"Let's hope not," she said, blinking her eyelashes for a dramatic effect. Unfortunately, flattery got her nowhere with Sesshoumaru's mood.

Eventually, they got tired of standing and sat down. After a prolonged silence, they too fell asleep, under the stars.

It wasn't very long they got to rest. When two hours passed by, Mika awoke from a sound nearby. It was loud enough to startle Sesshoumaru as well, and he was a deep sleeper.

"What was that?" she asked the air. Sesshoumaru's hand flew to his sword.

"The boy with the purple hair?"

Mika snatched a stick from the floor. It wasn't very thick, but it made a fine weapon for self defense. "I wish and hope that it isn't. He creeps me out!"

"Aw, Kimiko, you're so mean."

As if he were a vengeful ghost, he leaped out of the tall trees and floated above them. In his right hand he held a long sword that was dripping with blood. He had recently killed someone or at least drew the blood from their bodies with a slash.

He brought the tip of the blade to his mouth and licked the edge. "But so adorable at the same time."

_Ew, licking the edge of a sword? Is he trying to impress me or what? _"If you don't go away this second, I'm going to ram this stick into your mouth!"

"That doesn't sound right," he commented.

"Just what kind of sick thoughts are you having?" she snapped.

"Hmm, the thought of you on the floor with your legs torn away from you…" He disappeared and reappeared behind Sesshoumaru. "Doesn't that sound beautiful, Daiyoukai-san?"

Sesshoumaru brought his Tenesiga to his face, trying to cut his sneer in half, only to have it stopped by the sword he was holding. With minimum effort, he pushed him back with only one hand. "Ah, you're weaker than I thought." He brushed a stray hair from his face, his violet eyes sparkling. "I can't figure out what Kimiko sees in you. You're so… plain, I guess."

"Silence," Sesshoumaru muttered, knocking his knee hard against the purple-haired boy's face. It hit successfully and pushed him across the grass, but not onto his back.

"Pushy," he said, thrusting his long sword back at him. But at the instant he held Tenesiga out before him to block his attack; he did his disappearing act again. He faced Mika immediately and grabbed her away before the boy could touch her skin. As he watched the boy scowl, he tightened his grip a little on her shoulder, feeling a sense of rightness like he did when he rescued Rin.

He let go after a few seconds and told her to stay close to him. The boy at the other end simply continued to disagree with Sesshoumaru's protectiveness.

"Oi, oi, can't you share her with me? It's not as if you owned her." He glanced over at Mika. "Right Kimiko?"

"How about you do your disappearing acts somewhere else?" she growled at him, on Sesshoumaru's side completely.

"You could do it too, I think," he said. "Kimiko… do you really want to hang around with this guy?"

"Yes I do. He knows lots of stuff and I want to know things. And plus, I don't know who you are."

"I'm _Ayumu_, remember? I can walk into people's dreams and—"

All of a sudden, a woman just as tall as Ayumu appeared beside him. She had fiery red hair, in contrast to his violet locks. She wore a beautiful kimono, with red flowers decorated over the black fabric. Her lips were dyed red with rouge and her eyes were a bright brown, almost crimson. She put a hand on the purple boy's shoulder.

"Drop it Ayumu. Kimiko no longer remembers who she is. And besides, we aren't on their side, are we?"

The boy slapped her hand away. "What I do is none of your business, Honou. Stay out of it!"

"It too is mine. I'm your partner now, not that lousy female over there—" at this, she pointed a red finger at Mika, "—that has fallen for the same lousy daiyoukai who can't even beat his own half-brother!"

The comment was insulting to his pride, so the daiyoukai charged at the woman and thrust Tenesiga at her. Of course, she dodged it, blocking the attack by gripping the edge with her fingernails. With her other hand, she pushed it into his face, a spark of fire flooding out from her palm. He immediately retracted his sword but the woman didn't let him escape.

She twisted her body around the sword and thrust the fingers that were holding the sword at him. The sharp nails almost pierced his face and the fire licked at his skin. Yet, he still managed to escape by ducking underneath the woman's attack.

Realizing that his partner was on the offensive, the boy with purple hair named Ayumu brought out his sword. His focus was on Mika instead and he leaped at her. She glanced at him, still and nervous. Her hand flung the stick at him and she made her way aside. As he landed however, he took a swipe at her with the sword and scratched at her skin. The blood splashed onto the grass, staining the cool, wet grass with red liquid rather than dew.

She flinched at the pain and shut her left eye. Using her right to see, she slowly stepped to her left to avoid another painful slash but the boy was fast. Soon, she had about three slashes on herself.

The boy looked regretful and he wasn't very happy about hurting her. From his expression, he was about ready to invite her into his arms. He was holding the sword loosely and his footing was not good. A shout from his partner, who was fighting Sesshoumaru with two metal rods with fire lit at the end, told him that he needed to dispose of Mika. He looked grimmer than ever.

Just as he was about to thrust the sword in her heart, Mika rose her arms before her to protect herself. But it was unneeded, because a chain curled around the sword and the arm of the wielder, stopping the murderous action. Ayumu's eye searched around him for the person who had saved Mika.

However, before he could find him, Kohaku jumped overhead Ayumu and landed in front of Mika. With one tug, he pulled the purple haired boy toward him. He swung the blade in the direction of his face, but the boy kicked him in the stomach. He staggered long enough for the boy to regain control and counterattack.

"K-Kohaku! What are you doing here?" Mika asked.

"I'm saving you," he replied, nudging Mika in the arm. "Go hide somewhere! You'll get hurt."

They both dodged a small conflagration that leaked through the opening Sesshoumaru had unintentionally given the woman. It almost burned Mika's feet, but luckily they survived the fire without a scratch. Mika shot Kohaku an indignant look.

"I can fight too," she said sharply.

Kohaku kicked the blade away that was coming at him with his foot. It made a faint but obvious mark on his shoe. _Quite an edgy sword that Ayumu was carrying_, he thought. "But you don't even have a weapon—"

Suddenly, Tenesiga was knocked out of Sesshoumaru's hand. The rusted sword flew next to Mika. An unbeatable urge to use the sword to eliminate her opponents took control over the miko. Her arm reached out to grab it and instantly felt the pain shooting up her shoulder. The youki that surrounded the holy blade that Sesshoumaru bestowed upon it when he was a youkai was strong.

Of course, when Sesshoumaru was holding, the sword must have realized he was the master of it and didn't affect him while he was in the human form. But Mika was a stranger to the sword; a completely new being. The blade was not familiar with her smooth, tender hands. It didn't like how both of her hands wrapped around it.

And it most certainly did not welcome the bloodlust inside Mika. But it was too late. She was already holding it.

"Darn—she's got a sword!" Honou cried out. "Ayumu, look out!"

The impact on his long blade told Ayumu everything. Mika's eyes illuminated her face with a golden glint. They were wide open, as if she had spent a sleepless night. Her hands were clutched around the hilt tightly. She was also pushing down on him hard.

"Too… late!" he answered, using his adrenaline to force her back to her own ground. She quickly regained her footing and brought down the sword on him again.

A void of black tried to tear through the air. He gasped and leaped away. In the distance, Sesshoumaru and Honou, the red haired woman, watched in awe.

"She can do the youkai's technique too?" Honou yelled, putting down her weapons for a moment.

_Barely,_ Sesshoumaru thought. The abilities of the sword were still there even when she held it? _An amusing thought to behold. But it's not enough to send them to the Underworld._

But the more she swung it, the possibility of Mika winning against Ayumu increased. He seemed to be struggling; the sweat beads on his forehead told the story good enough. He blocked every attack but there was no chance for him to strike back. Mika was swift and she was all out offensive.

"It was a mistake to choose the sword, eh? It was always your expertise… whoa!"

To pay back for her cuts, she gave him four on his chest. Blood poured out of his mouth. He felt sick and dizzy. "Shoot… I lost…"

Honou was disappointed. She nudged Sesshoumaru aside as she darted across the field in seconds. True to her fiery colors, she leaped to anger.

"Give me the sword! I'll kill this wimpy girl!" She pulled Ayumu's sword away from him and held it before her. "I'll make sure by your eighth breath; you'll be kneeling before me. And I'll fight you with this arm only. COME!"

As if responsive, but in reality only a marionette when she held a blade in her hands, she jumped at her, the blade exchanging deadly conversations with the long steel. When she was thrown back, the sword flew onto her head. She dodged it with her leg and counterattacked by thrusting Tenesiga into Honou. But—

Honou's body only dispersed into flames. The flames instantly surrounded the sword, trying to consume the dense metal. The rest of Honou's body, her arm, her face, legs, were still intact. So she could move, and move she did. After a cackle, the blade made contact with her face. It tore a cut just an inch below her golden eyes. At the pain, Mika awoke and dropped her only weapon.

Mika cried out and cringed. Using her finger to dab her cut, she glanced at Honou.

"Told you. And Ayumu had trouble with you?" She spat to show her disdain for Ayumu. "You're nothing. I could fight you for a hundred times and you would still lose. I can't believe the _Master_ ever recruited you. You should have never been partners with Ayumu—"

The purple haired boy, who seemed to have a sense of insecurity around Sesshoumaru and especially Kohaku, showed fear as Honou continued to brag and spout out unnecessary information for the enemies to hear. When she reached the point he simply could not stand by, his purple hair grew longer until it was at a length that could subdue Honou by twirling its locks around her mouth and neck.

Sesshoumaru, Kohaku, and Mika could hear Honou choking on the purple hairs as she was pulled back next to her partner. When her face was blue from the absence of oxygen in her lungs, he let go. She coughed out a few stray hairs that didn't escape her mouth and threw the sword back into his lap.

"What was that for? I was—" Honou began to sputter.

"Look, rookie. You know nothing. You say nothing. You do nothing, unless I tell you to. I am your superior and forever shall be! And your powers are NOTHING, compared to mine." With this, Ayumu stood up and glanced at Mika.

They were back in her dream. But this time, he seemed to be serious. He was doing what he came here for.

He reached out and touched her neck with his cold hands. The chains reappeared from his evil aura. But when he seized one chain and tugged at it, the metallic links broke. As it turned to dust, Mika could feel a change in her body. Not a physical change, like the baby was doing to her, but a mental change. As if the empty parts of her were starting to become clearer.

_No! I don't want to remember!  
_

_Why?_

_I want to start anew. Throw me into the cliff. And lock my heart. I never, ever, want to remember again. _

_If you so desire._

Then, they were back into reality in a moment. Ayumu looked at her with saddened eyes and turned toward to a stunned Honou. With a flick of his hand, the darkness swallowed them up. Leaving no trace of their encounter, the sun rose.

Companying with the sun however, was a bad omen. The crows squawked and flew higher than the hawks that had left home for worms to eat. The sun was red as blood. And the green grass they stood on were now wet with dew and blood. It gave him a sickly feeling as Kohaku sat back up. He had fallen over when Mika began fighting Honou.

He glanced at Sesshoumaru, who was putting Tenesiga back into its black sheath. His gaze then averted to Mika. She was shaken by something and was shuddering like she saw someone murdered before her.

When he was standing on his feet, he made his way toward her. He put a hand on her shoulder and watched her turn her head slowly to him.

"Mika-san?" he asked.

She slapped his hand away and ran into the trees. He called out to her and shot a look at Sesshoumaru. He seemed to look exhausted. That meant Kohaku had to find Mika himself.

"Mika-san! Wait! Don't go so far away from—" He stopped a few feet before her. She was clawing a tree, her eyes showing him that she was in a distant place right now.

But something else caught his attention. A blue and green beast that was flying by; no, it was not a beast.

It was the Shinidamachu that belonged with Kikyo. Kohaku felt his throat go dry. Something did happen to her. Something dreadfully awful and he knew it had to do with Naraku. He needed to be by her side. He needed to kill Naraku. He needed to do so many things!

_I have to go. Now. _

As he followed the stray Shinidamachu finding its way back to Kikyo, who led him away from the crying miko, words of warning and importance the unfortunate captive had given him that he forgotten seemed to echo faintly. But it was too quiet to hear… too quiet for Kohaku to hear.

However, Mika heard. Even among her tears, she heard Kikyo's distant voice. She heard the haunting cut off sentence:

_You are the last light. _


	64. Episode 64

Episode 71: _Anata no Yakusoku_

It was an unbreakable promise.

Yet it cost Kikyo her trust and her life.

They were supposed to be inseparable.

Yet a petty thief tore them apart.

And the combination of this thief and a spider was now holding her captive. What a wonderful resurrection this was. Kikyo opened her eyes from her regretful memories. There was no time for thinking about the past. She had to get out of here and find Kohaku. She had to finish Naraku off. Her plan was perfect. All she needed to do was put it into action.

She was currently tied up, with slimy substances gluing her arms to a wall. She could peer down and see the bottomless abyss below. If she managed to get free, she also needed to find a way to fly. But that was impossible, for she was not a bird, and her _shinidamachu _could not approach such an unholy place. After all, this was Naraku's disgusting lair.

But before she could make a move, Naraku appeared from the shadows. He was smirking, his vile face making her uneasy. His body was now like a mutated alien. There were spikes of diamond that sprouted out of his right shoulder. The barrier he was always hiding behind was still there as well. He flashed a nasty grin.

"Why so sad, Kikyo? According to Kanna, Inuyasha is on his way to save you. You should be happy."

He was doing it on purpose, he just knew it. Poking subjects that caused her unnecessary stress and worry made her panic. It was just a matter of minutes before Kikyo would lose composure. But the real question was; why was he appearing before her? She knew the Naraku before her was not a _kugustu_.

"What's the meaning of this?" she asked. "You were a coward and always had people delivering your dirty work. It's quite a surprise to have you, the real you, appear before me."

He laughed. "Believe me, I'd rather stab you through your skull and be done with you, but you see, an old friend of mine binds me here. He wanted to see you."

Kikyo was confused. What friend? Who wanted to see her? Who had the power to bind Naraku where he was?

No, he was talking in metaphors. She racked her brain for answers… and found one.

"Oni…gumo?"

Naraku chuckled. "Yes, Onigumo. His lust for you never faded. He died for you. Isn't that romantic?"

"I find that quite despising."

"Cruel words, Kikyo. Cruel words."

"So tell me, what's with the sudden desire for your human heart? I thought you wanted to be rid of it for all eternality."

"Oh, I do. I do. But you see, to keep you there," he said, pointing a deformed finger at her, "I need some sort of force. A powerful will, you could say. And the lust of Onigumo's soul is the perfect fuel. The spiders feed on memories and create webs that destroy your mind. Isn't it a lovely tool? Of course, the time I get rid of this will come soon." He extended the finger to her face and stroked her cheek. "Or not. Maybe I should get rid of your twin as well."

Kikyo gave him her own sneer. "Inuyasha will never let you do that. Kagome is just as precious."

"Oh, are you sure? Inuyasha's heart has been claimed by you. If you are alive, Kagome is in danger… deep, deep, danger."

"Are you threatening me? I have no use for her life."

"A poor liar you are," a sudden new voice proclaimed.

The miko turned to her right with much difficulty. An orb of purple began to form. In seconds, Hakudoshi, who was sitting on top of Moryomaru appeared, inside of the barrier. "I know that your naïve kindness brings you to everyone's side, regardless of who they are. Remember Kikyo? You were the one who created Naraku, in a way."

Unexpectedly, a shimmer of light clashed Hakudoshi's barrier. Stunned, he watched Kikyo's fury flicker in her eyes.

"Hakudoshi, I suggest you keep your mouth shut. Kikyo may be a pure woman, but her temper is just as terrible as a killer when time calls for it."

The white haired boy gritted his teeth. "Shut up Naraku. You have no control over me!"

Naraku stayed silent, standing in the middle of the air, like a modern-air balloon. Then he looked up, as if there were sparkling stars in this dark cave.

Then, Hakudoshi's barrier faded.

"I think it is time for you to go, Hakudoshi."

A tentacle struck out of nowhere and took strike at Hakudoshi's heart. But he merely smiled as his body began to repair itself.

"You fool! I am invincible! You can't kill me! Moryomaru, kill Naraku!"

Kikyo began to feel pitiful for Hakudoshi. He, of all of Naraku's enemies, was the one with the lowest chance of survival. He was just as ambitious like his "father" and he was bound to betray him someday. He was also weak, because Naraku was not dumb; he knew many things that everyone never thought he knew and he was clever.

And in this situation, Naraku had the upper hand.

As Hakudoshi's body reforemed, a ball of glob popped up in his fist. When it was no longer a blur, Kikyo could see it was a heart. The veins were still present on the muscle and it was beating with ease.

The white haired boy's face went pale. "No… it can't be! You—"

By then, it was too late. Naraku had squeezed his heart in the palm of his hand, the muscle vaporizing into the air. Hakudoshi turned to mist, while Moryomaru leaped outside of the cave.

"I would have preferred to have that monk, Miroku kill him with his curse, but things can't go as you plan them."

"What about those two?" she dared to ask.

A glint of evil passed by in the corner of his eye, his lips turning upward into a smirk as he watched the figure grow smaller in the distance. "Their time will come."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"He's nearby!" Inuyasha cried, making haste as he ran over trees and rocks. Kirara followed suit, with Sango and Miroku on her back. Kagome, who had Shippo riding on her back, clutched her fingers tightly on Inuyasha's cloak. Her stomach was tightening.

"You're sort of quiet, Kagome," he said, glancing at her.

Kagome murmured a half-hearted reply. It sounded vaguely like "it's nothing".

But there was no time to comfort her, for the ground shook. Tentacles sprouted out from the ground as Naraku came into view. In one of his hands was the body of Kikyo. She looked exactly what a corpse should look like, face white, hair dripping with perspiration, her hands drooping in the air, and her eyes shut tightly together.

Kagome quickly went onto her feet and drew out an arrow. Miroku and Sango jumped onto the ground, weapons in stance. Inuyasha took out Tessaiga, glaring angrily at Naraku. Their enemy greeted them with a sarcastic remark and then proceeded to ram them in with diamond spikes he stole from Inuyasha.

Aiming closely, Kagome shot an arrow at Kikyo's body. It hit Naraku's hand successfully, but it only passed through like paper. She grimaced at the fact that she couldn't release Kikyo.

On the left side, Kirara bit one of his tentacles ferociously. Shippo did his best to sustain fire on where the nekomata was attacking to ensure damage, but they did nothing to distract the villain.

Miroku, who was standing there, watching Kagome closely so that Inuyasha could concentrate on fighting Naraku instead of trying to keep her safe, was busily deciding whether to suck in all the tentacles and Naraku himself. But hovering above them was the _saimyoshou_, a type of poisonous bug that Naraku always had out to make sure Miroku didn't kill him with his curse.

Sango gave him a glance that meant she wouldn't let him sacrifice his life no matter what. With that settled, she went ahead, throwing her boomerang at Naraku. It slashed through a bunch of tentacles with no difficulty, but they regenerated.

"Dang it! He's always hiding behind that barrier and regenerating! It's so annoying!" Inuyasha snapped, kicking a tentacle away. He took in a deep breath and began running up the tentacles, dodging several diamond projectiles coming his way. When they reached the point where he had to jump, he shot his own diamonds at Naraku.

"Eat this, Naraku!" he yelled, feeling the winds of youki wrapping around him again. But he wasn't preparing _Kaze no Kizu _or _Bakuryuha_. He just smelled the "circles" and when he opened his eyes, he could see them. And he knew that was the spot to strike.

But when his fang was about to touch the target, they disappeared. Before he could turn, he was plunging into a crevasse that opened with the help of his tentacles. Poking out of the ground where spikes. He gave out a growl as he became a victim to Naraku's trap.

Kikyo's eyes opened just then, her eyes full of determination.

~O~O~O~O~O~

His heart was pounding as he raced through the forests. He was almost there, he could hear, he could smell, he could feel it. Naraku was up ahead—with Kikyo.

_I'm coming Kikyo-sama!_

However, he was only a mile away when Mika stepped out from a tree. Her eyes were still lifeless, her eyes only a dull hazel, even though it has been stated so many times that her eyes were brown. In her hand was a sword dripping with blood. Kohaku realized the blade was Tenesiga.

He panicked. Did she attack Sesshoumaru or something? But Sesshoumaru wouldn't just hand over his sword without a fight. He was a daiyoukai, (now a human) and he could kill Mika by strangling her.

Like some zombie, she raced toward him. Tenesiga was heavy on his scythe when they clashed and still was when they unlocked. He was sweating buckets as she attacked with no mercy. She swung this way and that way, sometimes up, sometimes from the floor. Time to time, she would lean backwards and kick him into the air. Then, as he fell, she would throw the sword at him.

After wasting ten minutes, Kohaku suffered two cuts on his face, five bruises on his stomach, and an aching foot. Mika was still attacking.

"Mika-san! Please stop! I'm not your enemy!"

She thrust the sword toward his chest. He wrapped the chain around the sword and tugged at it. It slipped out of her hands and fell beside his feet. Mika darted after it; her hands picking it up faster than you could blink, and slashed his leg.

Kohaku tumbled to the floor, watching Mika hold the blade up in the air. She brought it down onto his face, but the blade stopped midair. Something was acting like a shield, blocking the blade from piercing his body.

He knew what it was. It was Kikyo's will. She was still thinking about him, even from this far away. And her light was there to protect him.

He used this advantage and hacked at Mika. But she turned to shadows before he could make another decoration to her face. He spun behind himself and spotted a man wearing nothing but black. He was one of the strange people who had tried to take Mika's life, a hostile person.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?"

The man, who had pale green hair instead of purple or red, stood silent. His right eye was covered by three large bangs. The back of his hair was slick, like he used some sort of gel to keep it in place. His eyes were closed.

"I am but a servant for the Dreams. No one important. My job is to keep you on hold." He held out a fingernail, which was also painted black. His eye opened, revealing a dark green iris. "You are not needed on the field."

_Does that mean he won't let me go to Kikyo-sama?_ "I asked you, who are you?"

"I have no need to tell you."

"Then why won't you let me pass? I need to see Kikyo-sama! She's in danger!" He leaped toward at him and tried a strike. He missed and hit only the air.

The man had stepped to the side in very little time. "Do you not value your life?" he asked, holding a hand up to his face. He brought it down to his chest, where a green spear materialized.

Kohaku responded with another brave attempt at landing a strike on him. "Not if it involves yours!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

His back was hurting really badly, resembling the times Kagome had "sat" him around 49 times. Or was it 50?

Plus, he had a minor headache and his eyes were blurry. He couldn't hear well, but the only sense that was working in perfect condition was his nose. He smelled Kikyo's body above and the others.

He searched hectically for Tessaiga only to find out that it had fallen out of his grip while he was falling and landed somewhere inside the masses of tentacles. Grinding his teeth, he hurried to the walls and began climbing. When he was up on the top again, Sango, Kirara, and Shippo were down. Miroku and Kagome were busily trying to free Kikyo from the clutches of Naraku.

"Sango! Shippo! Kirara!" he exclaimed, running toward to them. Sango moaned as she tried desperately to stay awake.

"Darn… I fell asleep. My head hurts…" she said, slapping her hand on her head. Inuyasha made fists as he asked her about her condition.

"I think I'm fine… where's Tessaiga and Hiraikotsu?"

Inuyasha got back to his feet. "Don't tell me he hid them too! Dang it! Dang it all!" With that comment said, he started making his way furiously toward Naraku. Sango chased after him too, telling him to calm down.

"I can't! Naraku's going to squash my sword with that fat body of his!"

"Inuyasha, wait! Just look!"

"I don't have time to—"

All was silent when Kikyo was struck by the tentacle and hurled over in the hole that Inuyasha climbed out of.

"K…Kikyo!" He flashed Naraku the saddest and menacing look he could ever muster. But he couldn't speak. He couldn't even curse his name now. The only thing he could do was jump back into the hole too.

"Inuyasha!" his friends yelled, but the red-cloaked hanyou was gone by the time they managed to cry out his name. The tentacles struck at them again.

Miroku bit his lip and tore the blue beads away from his right hand. "_KAZAANA_!"

Sango spun on her heel and almost threw her sword away. "HOUSHI-SAMA! STOP!"

The _saimyoshou _rushed inside the black hole before it could suck in the tentacles. But he didn't close his hand, even though his lips were turning purple and the pain unbearable. He just had to be the sacrifice, the one to end this all in one go.

But Kagome shut his hand into a fist before he could take in any more poison. "_Yamete, Miroku-sama! _YOU'LL DIE!"

The poison began to work its magic. Soon, Miroku was on his knees, grasping for air.

Kagome shot the hole a look. Inuyasha went after Kikyo, Miroku was hurt badly, Sango was shaking with fear, Naraku was laughing with glee, and she was terribly worried about what was to happen next.

How could everything bad happen today? Why today?

~O~O~O~O~O~

"The dance begins today," Kyoko said for the millionth time.

Bankotsu rolled his eyes. The girl was begging to be killed. "What the heck are you mumbling now?"

"My mother is crying."

"I thought you were lost and didn't know who you were!"

Kyoko kept on walking beside him, not stopping, nor looking at him. "One falls today, the other standing. What other tragedy will befall us?"

She spread her arms out in an extravagant manner and bowed, as if the God of Everything was right before her.

~O~O~O~O~O~

'_I didn't kill them! I swear! He killed them! He killed the chickens!'_

_The man grabbed her wrist and began pulling. She glanced back at Omae and screamed for help. 'No, you can't make them take me. Omae-sensei, help me!'_

'_You have to learn your lesson. You can't just take lives, Mika.'_

'_That's right Mika.' The shadow of the girl stood before her. 'It's not nice to hurt people. Say you're sorry.'_

_The children flocked to center of the village where the man held her. She glanced at the man, hoping he had come to her senses. He gave her a scorning look._

'_I'm sorry,' she said, bowing her head. When the man let her go and the people threw rocks at her, she looked up. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she ran to Omae. She clawed at her kimono and cried some more. She cried the entire night, cursing the boy who got away._

_And he heard. And he was mad. He left marks on Omae's house as he let go. She betrayed him. And he trusted her so much…_

_Mika had to go. She couldn't exist._

_She was an alien, after all._

Opening her eyes, she found that Sesshoumaru was sitting by her side. He was sleeping soundly.

She, however, just had a nightmare; the ones talking about her and some boy that had blamed her for killing living beings. It was the unpleasant ones, the ones that left shivers and dry tears on her face.

She shook her head. _It was that weird purple haired guy. He gave me these dreams. He's trying to drive me insane, but I won't let him._

Mika walked away from Sesshoumaru, taking a soundless vow that she was coming back after she got a drink of water. When she found a trickle of water, she knelt down and washed her face. As she wiped her face, she could've sworn the reflection of herself was of a girl with blood on her hands.

She jumped back in fear, wondering if the water was blood or clean. Then she blinked and told herself to stop freaking herself out. She trudged back through the incoming cold wind and made a place beside Sesshoumaru. Sighing, Mika closed her eyes and entered the dream world again.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Let me go, Inuyasha."

Kikyo's voice was the first thing he heard, the first thing his body reacted to, instead of the pain that in his back, his legs, and his arms from falling back into the spiky rocks.

She was in his arms, wrapped tightly and rather uncomfortably. She was frowning and her eyes were of anxiety. He loosened his hold.

"Are you all right Kikyo? Did he hurt you anywhere?" The scene where she was struck by Naraku's tentacle reran in his brain. "Is that wound still—"

"Inuyasha," she said firmly. "You are a fool. Why did you come after me? You should've stayed above!" Her voice rose several octaves.

He was taken back from her scolding. "You were hurt! I can't just stand by and watch you die!"

She pulled his hand to her stomach. There was no hole, only the fabric that lay between her skin and his hand. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she softened her voice. "Listen, Inuyasha. You were tricked. You followed after an illusion. It was a trap."

Inuyasha felt one of his nerves sending his brain a horrifying message. _Naraku fooled me?_ "But…" He couldn't put the shock in words.

"She's speaking the truth, hanyou."

They shot their eyes above, toward the incoming light. Standing over them was a man who had his hair tied in a long ponytail. His skin was quite pale and his eyes were a piercing dark blue. He had a sword strapped to his back, his purple clothing fancy like a noble. As he grinned in a mean way, he folded his arms. "How's it down there?" His eyes ran over the spikes. "Looks fun. Can I join?"

Inuyasha growled at him. "Sure, why not? And while you're at it, can I rip your head off?"

The man chuckled. "You're very funny. By the way, I'm too busy to play with you. See you later." A rush of air surrounded him, resembling the times when Kagura summoned her feather. Instead of using that sort way to fly, he used a paper crane. He hovered away, waving as the ditch began to shrink.

The rocks began to fall on top of them, hitting Inuyasha on his head. They broke when they touched the diamond spikes, sending more pieces of sharp stone at them. When about two minutes passed, their light was no longer available. The sky had closed onto them, leaving only a crack for them to breathe.

Kikyo laid her head against Inuyasha's chest. It wouldn't be long before Inuyasha ran out of oxygen to live on. She shut her eyes and grimaced at the situation. _This is not good. But even worse is that he is keeping us alive. What does he want?_

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Miroku-sama, please, hang in there!" Kagome supported the monk with her hand. Her eyes were brimming with tears. Shippo and Sango also broke into sobs. Miroku lay unconscious.

Sango gripped her sword so hard the hilt began to scratch against her hand. Blood started to trickle down from her fingers to the floor. She slammed her teeth against each other, lecturing Miroku in silent tones. "Why did you do that… you'd… you're not a hero!"

The middle-school girl understood why he had done it. He had wanted to end this all, for Sango's sake. If he had killed Naraku then, Kohaku wouldn't have to die. The situation would be better for everyone.

What he didn't get was that he would cause grief if he disappeared.

Kagome glanced over at Shippo. With a determined nod, she stood up and snatched an arrow from her quiver. She aimed it at Naraku, who was busy looking over at the crevasse.

Aiming carefully, she pulled back on the string. The tension of the forces she was giving made it hard for her to not let go. When she felt like the bow was about to break, her fingers released the feather, one by one. She focused on the arrow with all her might as it flew toward Naraku. _Hit him! Hit him, I beg of you!_

It touched his barrier and dissolved before it could even reach Naraku. He swung his attention back on them. His tentacles arose and began to make its way toward them. Kagome clenched her hands into fists and leaped before Sango, Miroku, and Shippo. She would not let them die.

"Get out of the way Kagome!" Koga cried as he came running by with a set of claws on his right hand. He slashed the tentacles away and flashed her his pearly whites.

"You okay, Kagome?"

She beamed with joy. "K-Koga-kun!"

His smile was soon gone. He returned his gaze toward Naraku. "Where's that puppy?"

"He's stuck in the crack in the ground right behind Naraku!"

"Why the heck would he get trapped over there? Though, if you think about his intelligence, it's not impossible."

"He was trying to save… Kikyo…" Her voice wavered at the thought that he might be dead. Koga stopped mentioning about him, realizing it was making her sad.

"Well, whatever he was doing, I'm taking the spotlight. Oi, Naraku!"

The man with mutated youaki body parts was pleased to see him. "Greetings Koga. Running lately?"

"Yeah, I guess." He shoved his claws in front of himself. It shimmered with silver light. The chains drooped down on his hand, covering the veins that were popping out. It was a powerful weapon he gained from his wolf ancestors, called the _Goraishi_. A blessing, you might say. "You're going to die today by my claws."

"We'll see," Naraku replied, his smile neither increasing nor fading.

~O~O~O~O~O~

He was breathing hard like a person with asthma by the time he was back where he started from. The man who called himself a servant of Dreams was a hard opponent. Kohaku wiped a sweat bead from his forehead as he raced on at him with his scythe. This time, he was knocked back all the way to the deeper part of the forest. He hit the trunk with his back.

But Kohaku was sure that this wasn't all his power. This man with green hair was hiding his true power, holding back his trump card. He had to play it right if he wanted to beat him without having his true power revealed to him. Kohaku knew he would be dead then.

As he ran back at him, he thought of reasons of why he would become an obstacle before him. The man didn't necessarily say Kikyo, so he could be blocking his way from another reason.

However, Naraku was nearby. He was here, at a perfect time. He could be the spider man's underling.

Whatever the reason was, he persisted in standing there. In fact, the man with the green hair had not moved since their battle. He was strong enough to just stand and stand he did. He parried an attack and grabbed a hold of his neck.

"I think it is time you go somewhere else." His brow arched into a V.

Kohaku panicked. _Shoot! He's going to release his power against me!_

And sure enough, he did.

A black, circular opening grew from behind Kohaku's back. As time passed, it rapidly increased in size, until it was big enough to swallow them both. It was completely dark, no light, nothing but blackness inside the opening. The man took a step, the first since Kohaku met him.

When he was a mere inch before the black hole, he pushed Kohaku into the darkness. Arms just as black reached out to grab his legs. A hand messed with his bangs. Another seized his scythe and took it away. Sounds of crunching on the metal were heard as the man with the green hair went farther away.

It was a mute world inside the darkness. He was just floating in air, going nowhere, being nowhere. It seemed like a million years before he saw light. He smiled at it, feeling nostalgic as the light touched his cheeks. The light was like an old friend he hadn't seen in a while.

Then, when he was pushed out of the darkness like he was picked up by a big hand then thrown onto the ground, he felt the pain all over his body again. He heard footsteps, nearing him as seconds rolled by.

He heard a girl's voice. Much younger than he was right now; perhaps she was seven or eight?

"Ooh, look! Onii-chan, look! It's a boy!"

"I can see that," a male voice snapped. "Eh…"

"It's a human," a different voice responded. It was a male as well. Kohaku raised his head from the grit. His eyes widened at the sight.

Well, because Bankotsu, Kyoko, and Jiro were staring at him like they'd never seen a boy soaked in blood.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"How do we get out of here?" Inuyasha yelled, glaring at the tiny crack.

"You could leave me here and rip the crack open," Kikyo suggested. Inuyasha returned her question with a gawk that meant don't-you-dare-say-that. But they had no choice.

"Are you sure you're okay? You don't need to rest some more?" he asked worriedly. Kikyo shook her head.

"I'm fine. I've survived falling down from a cliff fifty feet above and I'm healthy as can be. Now go open that crack."

He scratched the corner of his head. "I'll be back in a jiffy, okay?" Then he set her on a piece of broken diamond, making sure nothing was poking her, and then finally jumped onto the wall.

It was no difficult feat in making great progress over the vertical ground. When he was at the top, he hacked at it with his claws. Tiny pieces of brittle dirt plunged into the abyss below, but the wall didn't give way. He continued to slash at it.

Gradually, the "ceiling" became crusty and thin. He leaped away from the wall and kicked at it with his bare feet. The crack widened. Huge pieces of rock started to fall again.

He hurried down back to the ground to retrieve Kikyo. As soon as she was in his arms, he made an epic leap out of the hole. While he enjoyed his short flight in the air, he glanced over at the battle scene going on with Koga and Naraku. With a sniff, he could tell that Koga was struggling.

And then, the worst came. Koga's legs halted. The shards glued his feet to the ground as the tentacles curled nastily around his body.

"Stupid wolf!" he shouted, putting Kikyo down and making his way fast toward the scene. A stray tentacle knocked him away. He slid back onto the ground.

Kikyo stood back on her feet, gripping her shoulder in pain. She glanced at Naraku and realized something she had not noticed.

The black, ugly, corrupted Shikon no Tama was gone. Where?

She shot her shoulder a look. The wound tore and made its way up to her neck. Miasma seeped out of her arm and an evil light shone through her wound. Over on Kagome's side, she gasped.

_The Shikon no Tama is in… Kikyo._


	65. Episode 65

**Author Notes: Now, as we all know very well, MimiMika hates author notes. It makes the entire chapter look ugly. But I just had to warn you; there's some killing in here. I mean actual deaths. What that means is that you should break out the tissue if you cry very easily (like Kyoko ) and maybe you should get the voodoo dolls ready (for Naraku). :D Just some author advice. I was on the verge of crying you know too ; ; (lie :p)**

**And so, read on readers. Read on! :D:D:D::D:D:D::D:D:D:D:D:D**

**_Oh, by the way, you must be wondering about the Japanese names I used for these recent chapters. _**

**_Saigo no Hikari means The Last Light. This hint is referring to Kohaku, who we know has the last Shikon no Kakera... other than Koga._**

**_Anata no Yakusoku means Your Promise. This hint is about Kikyo's promise with Inuyasha. (the Shikon no Tama and stuff... the past?)_**

**_And the last one, Watashi no Shiawase means My Happiness. What the hint is talking about I'll let you clever readers figure out._**

**_(Note: If you haven't noticed, these three chapters are devoted to Kikyo. Not that I think Kikyo is better than Kagome or Kagome is better than Kikyo. They both are my favorite characters. So no bashing on either of them. :D)_**

**_OKAY ENOUGH AUTHOR NOTES!_**

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Episode 72: _Watashi no Shiawase_

The wind that swept past her was so peaceful. Sunlight that peaked through the trees was warmth on her skin, while the grass below her gave way without tickling her legs. Today was a special day.

All of a sudden, her hand went into her sleeve. She brought out the rogue and stared at it. The clam was tiny, but inside was a treasure to her; little something for her to help her be more human, more like the women in the villages wearing makeup to catch the boys' attention. A faint smile worked up onto her face.

It was awkward to know that a boy had given this rogue to her. She opened the clam and dipped the finger after her pinky into the smooth red material. Her finger barely touched her lip when she collapsed onto the floor without warning.

Blood seeped through her clothing and trickled down her right shoulder. She turned her head sideways to examine the wound and found a claw mark. Who had claws? A youkai did. She began to think of who when she got her answer.

"Ah, you've went stupid, didn't you Kikyo?" The voice was unmistakably the boy who had given her the rogue.

_No, no, no, not Inuyasha. It can't be. A dream. This is a DREAM!_

"Heh, you look pathetic. You actually believed me." His hand picked up the clam. She heard his palm crush the thing into pieces. The remainders fell onto her head. "It doesn't suit you, you know. This makeup and stuff; I mean, you're going to stay ugly forever anyway!"

She gritted her teeth and immediately thought of the Shikon no Tama she had with her some minutes ago. But it was no longer on the floor.

"Oh, by the way, thanks for the Shikon no Tama. But you didn't make it black enough! Maybe I should kill the villagers too. Heheheh." And then he left, just like that.

_How could you Inuyasha… I trusted you so much… I thought you were the person I wanted to spend the rest of my human life with! But I was tricked. I am a fool. I must atone for my sins. I must… stop you!_

~O~O~O~O~O~

The clay was falling off her naked body as she arose. Her hair brushed her shoulder as she stared the world around her. Her hands clutched a plant. Then she fell back down. She couldn't remember anything, hear nothing, feeling nothing.

Then… there was the light. A round, no, human shaped light in front of her. She sat back against the cave walls, watching a battle. All of a sudden, the light charged into her. It raced from her side, the sky, from the ground; everywhere.

It was at that moment when everything rushed into her. All the memories, all the pains she had, the doubts, and most of all, the hatred.

The man was still alive. The man who had taken away her life was right in front of her. She must kill him to pass on. Yes, that was the way to go.

She hurried and grabbed a bow and arrow from her sister, now an elderly woman. As she pulled the string back, she shouted out her feelings toward this man; her hatred and the life she wanted to have with him.

He told her that was what he wanted too.

The arrow flew. The souls left her body, her voice begging the gods for more time…

~O~O~O~O~O~

_Again… I am remembering the past…_

The past was painful. But she had to move on, to kill the real man that had cursed her. However, she could not forgive Inuyasha. Not yet.

But he was so happy with the friends he had now. They were people who would never abandon him. Unlike herself, who had hated him at the moment of her death, and could not bring to trust another. She was a tainted glass compared to them; a flower of misfortunes.

There was no more room for her. The times she had spent with him walking across the grass, riding a boat across the river, watching the trees, those times were history.

She was just a clay body…

~O~O~O~O~O~

"KIKYO!"

It was too late, she was already falling. The miasma was just like the blood that spewed out like a fountain when Naraku had struck her with fake claws resembling Inuyasha's. She was on her knees by the count of two. Her face was twisted in agony. _Inuyasha…_

Kagome gasped, her mouth hanging open. Her hand was shaking as she clutched the bow tightly. What should she do? What was the right decision to do in this situation?

_I wanted to see my mother…_

_My son…_

_He was my only one…_

One by one, the souls of women rushed out of her. She could already feel her tongue turning into dust. Her eyes lowered.

Naraku was in the background, just smiling at his trap unraveling like a blanket plunging onto the floor from the bed. His laughter was so very much like the laughter she heard when "Inuyasha's" claws scraped against her skin.

How she wished she was back at that time. How she wished she could change everything, start over and be with Inuyasha one last time. She aimed her silent plea at the skies, where Midoriko supposedly lived. _More time… please, just give me an hour!_

She felt so desperate. Her plan was ruined. But the Shikon no Tama was in her, the curse. The source of everything bad was with her. If only someone could just shoot the jewel inside her…

Her eyes fell onto Kagome.

Kagome glanced back at her. Her face was really like her own. The same brown eyes that could hold a limitless amount of sadness, the lips that looked like she put on rogue but really was just the color of her blood. Her pale white face that made her radiant black hair shine brighter than the moon.

She mouthed the word. No voice came out. But Kagome could understand, because she was already drawing another arrow, her fingers almost dropping it from fear. _What if I miss,_ she asked.

Kikyo smiled; her first, real smile toward Kagome every since she arose from the dead, like Jesus Christ. _It's okay. Just…_

_Shoot._ The word was echoing in their minds, with both of their voices intertwined.

Kagome shut her eyes and prayed that she would not miss, that she would hit the Shikon no Tama. _But why? Wouldn't you die? I can't!_ Her doubt pulled the arrow away from the bow.

Inuyasha was running toward her, his breath heavy as usual when he panicked, his hair flying into his eyes, his feet feeling the rocks trying to pry into his flesh. But he didn't care, not even if a thousand spears rammed into him. He just needed to get to her side. He didn't want her to die. No, he didn't even want to think of that possibility. All he needed to do right now was hold her in his arms and warm her up before she'd shake.

He turned his head toward Kagome. She was aiming an arrow at Kikyo. He clenched his hand in a fist. _Don't do it, please! You'll…_

Tears were already coming out of Kagome's cheek. She didn't know what to do.

Then the world went black around her. Kikyo and Inuyasha disappeared from her sight. So did Naraku, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Shippo. The world was just her and one girl before her.

Her hair was almost as black as the darkness that swallowed them up. Squarely cut bangs fell above her golden, hazel-like eyes. She wore a white dress shirt underneath a dress that stopped at her knees. On top of the dress was a knitted golden vest. As for her age, the darkness prevented her from wondering.

The girl's voice was sort of high-pitched. Not to the point where you'd think she was a screeching chicken, but high enough to suggest that her original personality was of gentleness. But in the tone she was speaking, all those happy thoughts Kagome had of her were cast away. This little girl was serious.

"You should shoot."

Kagome's eyes widened. Her bow was lowered as she approached the girl. "Why?"

"The Fate cannot be changed. It is already predestined. Kikyo will die again… today."

"No, you can't say that! I can change this fate if I don't shoot right?"

The girl gave her the silent treatment for a few minutes. Then she said, smiling a pitying smile, "Kikyo is in pain. She cannot let go. If you shoot, she can let go."

And then the world came back, the shadows pulling away, scared of the light. When Inuyasha and Kikyo were almost in view, she asked for the girl's name.

She never gave it.

And Kagome never hesitated after that.

The arrow almost brushed Inuyasha's shoulder, touched the air between the wound in Kikyo's shoulder, and then it went toward Naraku. The barrier dispersed when the arrow was next to him. The blinding illumination was unbearable, yet he was smiling.

The light was amazing. It was like a firework show, only the fireworks were the memories of sorrow being washed away. There were the joyful memories, the frustrating memories, and the melancholy memories. The past life of Kikyo's was like a movie screen against the darkening sky of twilight.

But most of all, there was the life of Midoriko. It was a faint background against Kikyo's faces and smiles. However, she was there, standing on a hill, staring at the fires that the youkai had caused. She was sad too, her face drawn into a grim frown.

She turned around, her lips moving, trying to tell Kagome something. And then the pictures faded, leaving an exhausted Kikyo on the ground.

The bow slipped from her hand as Naraku exited, the jewel in his hands.

It was black and he had won.

Kikyo was dying.

~O~O~O~O~O~

That night, no one slept. Everyone was too upset to eat or shut their eyes for slumber, even Sango, who was terribly worried about Kohaku's condition and location.

Kagome shot the sky a quick glance. The stars twinkled back in reply, but even they didn't seem so happy. Everyone today was mourning Kikyo's death, especially Inuyasha. She returned her gaze back to the fire in the center of their camp. Inuyasha had gone off to sit in the hill alone with Kikyo.

She was thinking about Kikyo and how she was always cruel and distant in Kagome's view. In reality, she was sweet and nothing more than aloof because she was brought back to the world, her slumber taken away from her. Now, when her time of passing was so close at hand, Kagome could understand the pain.

_An eternal sleep where worries and past sins are forgiven…_

She was almost like a sister, a twin who she could tell and share her secrets to. But in the end, Kikyo more than a mirror reflection to Inuyasha; she was his love.

The salty teardrops rolled down onto the floor. Just when they were making ends meet and becoming friends, she had to leave. Kagome began to quiver as the pain shot her in the back. It was all her fault. If only she was stronger…

On the hill where white cosmos grew, Inuyasha sat down, his hair swaying away in the noisy breeze that came by. He was doing his best not to cry and not to squeeze Kikyo so hard that her death came sooner. But he couldn't help it. Soon, his cheeks were red and the tears were staining his entire face.

Kikyo was in his arms, her expression empty and calm as usual. She watched as the tears tumbled down his neck, sometimes the teardrops hitting her face.

"I've never seen you cry," she said softly. Inuyasha's hands tightened.

"When I heard you were dead, I was sort of… happy. I was alive and you were not. I had survived that witch, I had thought. Then when you came back, you looked like you were going to fall back down. You had thought I had taken away your life and I just felt guilty. You were a human, so you took the pain harder than I could ever have." He leaned in toward her face and hugged her against his shoulder. "I'm sorry Kikyo. I… I was always too late. _And now… I still can't save you_!"

Then he felt her hand on his face. It was tender and warm, just like his mother's, just like the time when she was alive. All of a sudden, she felt like a real human, not a clay zombie.

"It's okay. I am not mad at you. I wouldn't be able to for very long, anyway." The little grin made way onto her face. "Smile Inuyasha. It makes everything bad go away, remember?"

He took a hold of her hand on her face. The heat escaped and soon she was cold again. "…Kikyo, when you came back from the other world, before you got the wound that Naraku gave you, were you happy to see me?"

Her eyelids sunk a few centimeters, creating an elegant atmosphere around her. "Yes, I was happy. In the very deep of my heart, I could hear your voice calling my name. But when the wound resurfaced onto my fake body, I forgot the love I had for you and it got replaced by the hatred. When I heard it was Naraku, I began to search the world for him. As I passed by villages, I began to learn things. I started to see life as I used to see before I was dead." She chuckled.

"What's so funny?" he asked, almost smiling himself.

"When you die, all your sorrows and regrets disappear. At the time of my death, I had still loved you. That little lingering hope that this was all trickery rescued me from becoming a vengeful spirit. However, when I came back, the hope had already been used. All I had left was anger. I hated the living and I hated everything else. You just could not live like a human again. That is the meaning of death and death returned."

Inuyasha listened intently, savoring her voice. "Kikyo, when you asked me if I would go with you to the other world, I said yes." He brought his forehead against hers. "I meant yes. I would go with you."

She shook her head. "You will be happy here. You have Kagome."

"Kikyo, I…"

"Don't say anymore, Inuyasha."

And then she kissed him on the lips, just like she did fifty years ago.

When he pulled away, Kikyo's smile was still on her face. She brushed her hand across his cheek and closed her eyes.

Her hair first began to fade, the light eating pieces away. Then, a light from beneath them pushed her up into the sky. As she was lifted away, the lights twirled around her, dancing and playing around with her. She laughed and Inuyasha could see that the lights were actually souls of children.

Hand and hand, the light still making its way down to her face, she took the children higher into the sky. When they were close enough to the stars, Kikyo glanced back, her eyes taking in the surroundings, the view of Inuyasha sitting on the hill below, Kagome and the others returning her gaze, and the trees.

Then with a wave, she dispersed into light. The orbs of white and blue left the grass and escalated to the night sky.

Miroku blinked away a few tears. "It's like her soul is saying goodbye."

Shippo leaped up onto Sango's shoulders. "Is she sad?"

Sango shook her head. "No. She's free."

Kagome wiped away the tears with her right hand. "That's right Shippo-chan…"

_She's finally free…_

~O~O~O~O~O~

The night was exceeding fast that day. Without warning, morning seeped into the openings between the trees.

Sesshoumaru was the first to awake. He felt a sensation that could be labeled as unpleasant and he had to admit, it wasn't because he was a human at this moment. His black hair brushed Mika's face, tickling her eyes. Her eyes opened as she raised a hand to rub the sleeping powder from the sandman away.

"_Ohayo,_" she greeted him. He didn't respond. She scowled and slapped his cheek lightly with her right hand.

"Don't touch me," he said, but Mika merely smiled.

"HEHEHEH…"

"What?"

"You're always so grumpy. You need to smile more often. Like this!" She began to reach for his mouth when he turned away and jumped up to his feet.

"What's the matter?" she asked, obviously clueless at his action.

"The _wind_…"

Images of the wind sorceress appeared in his mind. The flowers were before him again, the familiar scent of her blood, her smile. She was mouthing words, but he couldn't hear. And then, the pictures reverted back to the time where he found Rin. She was in his arm, her face full of surprise. She was just a helpless girl… toothless too.

Then he felt a vibration at his waist. He looked back down and found that Tenesiga was reacting to his feelings. _Tenesiga… are you showing these images to me?_

By then, Mika was up on her feet too. She stood by his side and poked her face into his view. "Something wrong?"

His glare told her that it was none of her business. She shrugged and started to walk in front of him, taking one step at a time. When he was moving as well and eventually pacing in front of her, he thought about Tenesiga's reaction to the memories he had seen. What was it trying to tell him? He glanced at Mika without turning his head.

Was it trying to tell him something about Mika? Something about… caring for more people?

And then he decided that he needed to talk to someone about this; someone who knew his father very well.

In fact… he could see the person's manor he was thinking about right ahead. He was almost smiling. _How convenient_

"Walk faster Mika," he ordered. Mika arched her eyebrows. Was he telling her what to do?

"Just who do you think you are—hey! Where are we going? Aren't we going to save Rin and Jaken and um Ah-Un?"

Sesshoumaru stopped just inches before her. He had his hand on Tenesiga. Mika shut her mouth, breaching herself for some heroic comment he was going to give her.

"I can't right now. Not with the way I am," he explained firmly.

And just by looking at his serious expression, he wasn't talking about his human state.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Onii-chan, I'm hungry."

Bankotsu whacked Kyoko with his fist. "Shaddup, we just ate."

Kyoko broke into tears. Jiro glared daggers at Bankotsu.

"ONII-CHAN! YOU'RE MEAN! I HATE YOU!" She knelt down and began pelting him with rocks again. He ducked behind a tree for cover.

"GOOD! I HATE YOU TOO! YOU'RE SO ANNOYING!" he yelled. Kyoko's bawling became worse.

Just then, a snake of deadly poison was targeted at him. It hit right next his neck, hissing and snarling its fangs at him. He screamed and strangled the poor beast to death. After it was lifeless, he threw the corpse back at Kyoko.

All of a sudden, Kyoko went serious, her eyes becoming dull. She stopped throwing things. "Papa, I love you…"

Bankotsu felt sweat trailing down his neck. _Dang it, she went creepy again._ He glanced at his wrists and chuckled weakly. It was going to have three scars soon if he didn't kill that girl. _Why did I ever take her with me?_

And then… the rocks came again. "I HOPE YOU DIE ONII-CHAN!"

"You shouldn't say that Keiko-chan," Jiro called out from the treetops. Bankotsu wanted to cry as he wondered: _how the heck did he get up there?_

"MY NAME IS KYOKO, AHHHAHAAAAHHHH!" Then she ran away in the opposite direction from where they came from. She never looked back.

Bankotsu scanned the area for signs of her return and when he decided it was safe, he came out, brushing his armor shiny clean. "Whew. I thought I was going to go insane… HOLY MACKERAL!"

He said that because right in front of him was a tiny nine-year old running toward at him with full speed, arms hoisting up an enormous boulder. It was so shocking that her thin little arms could even touch the rock, Bankotsu stayed glued to the spot. He watched her giggle in glee. That made the "getting-back-at-Bankotsu-plan" much easier.

"HERE YOU GO ONII-CHAN! YOUR BIRTHDAY PRESENT!" The rock began to tumble down the hill they just walked down from. It picked up velocity, slapping the wind as it went by, and then it ran over him.

Kyoko ran down to where the rock stopped and knelt down. "Hello Onii-chan! It's nice and cold down there isn't it?"

His head poked out of the ground. His blue eyes oddly seemed to be red as fire today. "K…Ky…KYOKO! I'M SO GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Her eyes reverted back to the doll-like type. "I didn't hear you papa… may you repeat it again, please?"

Bankotsu clawed at the floor, screaming incomprehensible words…

~O~O~O~O~O~

They sat down against a small fire. The day sure went faster than the night before. The sun was already setting and the sky peach colored. Bankotsu lay against a tree trunk, Banryuu sitting beside him. Jiro was on the other side with Kyoko napping on his shoulder.

"Ugh, I really can't stand that demonic kid." His face turned purple at the image of Kyoko calling him "papa".

Jiro, the vampire thingy/bat demon shot him a hateful gaze. "So how do you know Mika?"

He glanced at him with a sleepily look. "You said her name right!"

"Just answer me," he said, his fangs already growing.

Bankotsu fell silent. "I don't want to talk about her. It's already sickening now that her double is here."

"Are you two… rivals or something?"

—_don't leave me—_

The fearsome, murderous aura arose from him again. He stared intently at the fire, as if he were willing it to explode into a bomb and blow everything to smithereens. His hand gripped into a fist and his eyes bright, glowing blue orbs. His mouth was closed and when he stood, the shadows danced across his face, making him very scary.

"She's weird. She's happy one moment and the next creepy. Just like Kyoko," he explained. As he breathed in and out, Jiro realized he was shaking, just a bit. The wind was cold today…

"Really?"

"She's like me."

"Huh?" Jiro conjured up Mika's face. He studied her brown eyes that shone gold time to time and her black hair as best as he could from memory. "You two don't look alike at all."

Bankotsu held a hand to the fire. Jiro watched in astonishment as the fire licked his finger but didn't burn at all. "Whoa! How'd you do that?"

"Sometimes I just go cold. No… I've always been like this, my skin colder than ice. I've been like this since I was brought back to this world, hating the living and surviving on my vengeance." His eyes showed disappointment and sorrow.

"Are all of the dead like you? Hating the living and feeling empty after they come back from the other world?"

'_We're the same, Kikyo-san', Bankotsu said, grinning evilly at the miko. She was clutching her bow quite tightly and her expression was of disdain. _

'_Do not compare me to you, a zombie seeking bloodlust,' she snapped._

'_Hmmph. You just don't get it, don't you? Haven't you felt it all the time? The cold sensation and aloofness toward others? Hatred toward the living?'_

_She drew out and arrow and shot it against him. He blocked it with his sword. When he brought the sword away from his face, he was still smiling. 'We won't meet again, so I'll say it again. You and I are the same.' His smile turned to a frown, his Shikon no Kakera shining darker than ever. 'We are the embodiments of hatred. We can't escape the fate of dust. We'll die, good or bad.' And then he left._

"Yup, regretful of everything and everyone. Even if it was a miko with the purest heart. The dead… don't like to be disturbed."

Kyoko stirred and awoke. "Onii-chan, I had a strange dream."

Bankotsu felt irritation work up in his mind again. "So what? I don't care."

"No, you see—"

"Look, whatever monsters was chasing you are fake. Nightmares aren't real. Now stop bothering me and go back to sleep." He turned away from Kyoko and shut his eyes.

"But it was weird. I was in this black world and there was a girl in front of me. She was wearing a uniform like mine only it was green and she was holding a bow! She was like all scared and stuff. And I heard my voice telling her to shoot, to shoot because "fate" was already decided and then…" She yawned. "And then, and then she asked me for my name. I was trying to tell her but there was the boy in front of me again, the boy who I can't touch with my fingers; he was telling me to tell you that the miko was dead and—"

Bankotsu heard Jiro pat his hand on Kyoko's head. She went quiet and yawned once more before falling into a deep slumber. Soon, the crickets were all he heard.

It was shame. He should've fallen asleep sooner. Then he would've had to learn that Kikyo was already in the other world. Not that he cared really. He was just jealous that she was free while he was still here, trying to fulfill what he wanted to do before "sleeping" again.

"Ooh, the prince in blue is sleeping. How cute," a girl's voice cried. "I wonder if I should give him a little kiss—whoa! You heard that?"

Bankotsu was already on his feet, his hand feeling the force pushing back on him after he swung at the girl.

She had white hair that was tied up in two buns on the sides of her head. She wore a black collared dress that was so short; it was only six inches from her waist. Luckily, there were no winds so if the breezes passed by, no one could see her bottoms. The collar covered her entire neck, while her black sleeves extended over her hands. She was about seventeen; just like Bankotsu (he lied about his age when he told Mika he was "20").

"Kiss me if you want, but I'll guarantee you won't even have the lips for it," he said, smiling wickedly at the girl floating above him.

She giggled, holding up a miniscule knife with her two fingers. "How 'bout if I just peck your cheek? Will you still rip my head off?"

"No, I'll take your legs and arms too."

Her grin stretched as wide as her face. "Sounds fun, boy. But I don't have time for you to kill me. You see, I was bored when I just spotted you. I only have about half hour before I have to go back to "Dream". So it'll only be a fast game, okay, boy?" She threw the knife at him.

It hit the ground beside him and he returned his attention back at the girl when the knife began to move. His eyes widened in surprise as it dug underground and came back up from behind him. As he parried a death stab, another incoming knife made way at his cheek.

The girl, manipulating the knives with hand motions, seemed like a puppeteer with strings. She swayed her fingers this way and that way, sometimes cackling when blood was taken from him.

She pulled a knife back and licked the blood she drawn from him with her long tongue. She grimaced. "Ugh, your blood is cold! Blood is supposed to be warm! What the heck is wrong with you?"

But where he was standing a moment ago was an empty spot of air. She spun around and dodged a fatal blow. The blade still touched her skin and blood spewed from her back. As she scowled at her wound, she was sort of relieved that she didn't lose her legs. "Y-You're not bad with that big fat sword."

Bankotsu hacked at her again, his blade swift. "Don't you dare call my baby fat!"

The girl's eyes widened as the blade took off her left arm. She cried in pain, screaming curses at him as she fell onto the fire. Her wail was so loud; it awoke Kyoko and Jiro, who was pretty good at sleeping through fights. The scale of her voice increased as the fire burnt through her black clothes.

"AH! IT HURTS! THE FIRE! ARGH—" The fire licked her cheeks; her face already looking like it was melting. Then she stuck her tongue at Bankotsu. "Not."

Like a ghost, her body became transparent, the fire no longer eating at a solid being. She appeared behind Bankotsu, throwing her arms across his neck. Her lips touched his cheek and she pulled away before he could thrust Banryuu into her stomach.

"I won. I kissed you on the cheek. That gets me 8,000,000,000 points right?" She laughed and snapped her right fingers. Her left shoulder sucked her arm back from the ground. The knives she had used to attack circled around her severed arm until she could move it again. "Bye, bye boy! Next time, I'll give you a kiss on the lips; when you're dead!" She wiped her knife on her black dress and vanished.

Because the girl had the ability to float, Bankotsu was also in the air. When she was gone, he tumbled onto the floor, gravity pulling him down as fast as it could. He hit a few bones and ribs, but overall, he was fine.

"Who was that girl?" Kyoko asked, watching Bankotsu stagger to his feet.

Bankotsu fell back down on his knees and winced in pain. "I don't know, but she's got the Grim Reaper after her. Dang, my ribs hurt." He brushed his hand against his cheek with brutal force, as if her lips were infected with germs. He wiped his hand on his clothes and fell onto his back, exhausted.

Kyoko tugged Jiro's shirt. "Onii-chan knows the Grim Reaper?"

Jiro shook his head. "It's a figure of speech Kyoko, a figure of speech."

"Oh… so who is Mr. Shinigami?"

The bat demon sighed, almost feeling sympathetic toward the corpse. He could understand him at these times.

Now, what that meant was:

Kyoko was annoying.


	66. Episode 66

Episode 73: My "Heart" Beating

_Help me…_

_Won't you help me, Sesshoumaru? _

_The girl plunging into the abyss had her hand outstretched, her mouth open, and her golden eyes holding back tears. Her hair was flying into tangles as her head greeted the deathly breath of the hole beneath her. Then she let her hand fall and shut her eyes. She was now calm, accepting death. _

_Heheh. It was my fault that I fell. No need for your pity, or your help._

_Before she knew it, she was swooped back onto land, onto the other side of the mountain. The girl, wearing a black outfit just as black as the boy who was holding her, stared back at him with eyes of sorrow. He let her back onto her feet before he returned her gaze, thoughtful, worried, and emotionless all at the same time._

"_I did not realize you were following me."_

_The boy's mouth opened, a very, very tiny O. "Your senses have become dull. I was only a yard away and I was not trying hard to hide my presence." He took a step forward and examined her face, attempting to read her mind. _

_My heart has returned, she thought, tilting her head to the side without a murmur._

"_Oh, I see." The boy glanced at the mountain, his eyes seemingly piercing the stone walls to see the man with long silver hair. "You shouldn't have been abandoning your duties to stalk that man."_

"_I was curious," she explained._

_He gave her a lonely look. "You are in love."_

"_No, I threw that away when I was fourteen. I have no need for love. I was merely seeking his light…" Her hand went to his, clutching it tightly._

_The world shattered, revealing a black wall around them. The boy's eyes widened as he saw a corrupted light arise from her chest. It was her heart, dark and brimming with the desire for vengeance, red sometimes with the jealousy she locked away, and purple with the hatred for everyone around her. It was the blackest heart he had ever seen and yet there was a mild whiteness around the edges._

_The man's "light"… it is healing her. He glanced at her cold eyes. She seeks help. She wants to be a "human" again._

_Then with a blink, he brought them back to reality and away from the dream world. The walls of darkness retreated back to the shadows. _

_His hand caressed her hair. She pulled his hand back down._

"_I have a request, Ayumu."_

"_What is it?"_

"_I want you to kill _the_ me right now."_

_His eyes widened again with shock. He was the type to never show emotion, not because he was arrogant or shy, but just because he had nothing to say. This girl had changed much of that. She was like his sister, one of the people who could share his pains with. "You'd kill me before I could."_

_The girl's eyes stayed golden as she glared at him. It became like that ever since she joined the organization. The results of bringing out the oni inside her and chaining it down enough for her to just control it were the hue of her eyes. "Your ability to walk into my mind, my dreams… you can erase my memories." Her voice went softer as she continued to speak. "You can kill me… by doing that."_

_The boy of purple hair took a step away from her. "You're stupid. You can't make me do this! And besides, they'd find out and bring you back. You were their dog ever since you came into this group!"_

_His voice, louder than she would have expected it to be, was full of endless caring. Yes, Ayumu cared, even though he was without a heart, just like her. He too, had "fallen"._

_But she already had his sword in her hand. It was a truly ugly blade because it contained all the black hearts of people he had stolen it from. The hearts were their feelings… their souls and their souls were no pleasant ones. He had taken his heart and stuck it in there; the girl's as well. However, their will had given them back their hearts. _

"_You love me Ayumu. I appreciate you for that."_

"_Don't spout nonsense. I have no feelings for you; we're just partners!"_

"_Then you let me go." She pierced the blade into where her heart was and showed no pain, no remorse. Her black light escaped into the blade, the sword consuming it like a hungry, starving cat out on the streets. The purple-haired boy gawked without a word, his eyes becoming drier as he forced them to watch this scene._

_Then the sword dropped to the floor. The blood spewed out of her chest and then she took a step backwards. The crimson liquid was coming out of her mouth as well, like a fountain. Her footing was lost and soon she was falling again. _

_But he seized her hand and prevented her death, using last minute stamina. His eyes of violet shimmered with confused emotions. Was he really capable of having any feeling for her? Or was it just to throw him off track? Either way, she was not going down without his consent. "Kimiko… don't go… I still need you… we have so much to do… the missions—"_

_Anger surged through her, refusing the agony still and the loss of her heart. She growled at him, flashing him the meanest, most menacing look. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE MISSIONS! I DON'T WANT TO KILL ANYONE!" His hand began to burn from the spiritual energy she was casting into him. "Why can't you understand that, Ayumu? Why can't you think for yourself?"_

_A thin line of saltwater escaped his eye and trickled down his left cheek. "I am thinking… I'm thinking about you right now!"_

"_Let me go, or I'll kill you!" The fury escalated to the level of aggression she saved only for the man she was seeking vengeance against. "I swear I'll dismember your limbs so fast you can't even touch my hair afterwards!"_

_His hand began to loosen hold of her bloody, slippery arm. "Kimiko, you know… you can't… run away from your problems!" He bit his lip and tried to pull her back into her dream world where he would have complete control over her. But her malice was like a fire that would burn through your flesh to your bones. _

_As soon as he let go of the idea of trying to possess her with the dream, she started to become farther and farther away from her. Time slid by slowly, the world giving him a slow motion version of her fall._

_And soon, all he could see was the clouds. He blinked once, twice and then went back onto the mountain trail. He picked up his sword and glanced at the weapon. He could see her black heart resurface as a light, change its hue to a blank white, and then followed the girl's plummeting trail._

_He watched sadly, watching the beautiful thing leave him. There was this ache in the side of his chest. _

_He felt lonely. Friendless…_

_Completely all alone…_

_The images transcended to a different area, a village adorned with trees of all sizes and children running out and in. _

_There was the same girl, only younger; she was dressed in an orange kimono. She was pacing up and down in front of a river, as if she were waiting. And then there was a voice that echoed behind her, in the trees._

"_Nagato-chan! Where's…"_

_The name was so silent, it was almost impossible to hear. The girl ran up to another, but there was no face. No person, only a shadow of who should be there. _

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Whoa, I just had this weird vision," Mika exclaimed as they hiked the hill toward the manor before them. Sesshoumaru's silent treatment indicated that he had absolutely no interest in her dream, whatsoever. But apparently, Mika cared for his opinion.

"What was it," he mumbled just to satisfy Mika. She beamed with happiness and began chattering away about this epic tale between this lover and this other lover and how he was in it…

A dog of silver and fur, which was not very uncommon for youkai animals of those, was soaring across the sky. Instinct in Sesshoumaru told him that he should transform and fly up there too with the dog, but he was a human and alas, as much as we'd like to, we can't transform into dogs and fly.

He looked at his clawless hand and cursed under his breath. "Inconvenient body…"

"You want to look at my body?" Mika asked when she heard his muttering.

He gave her a death glare to show that he wanted her mouth shut and locked pronto. She did so.

They reached the manor with no problems, no fights with random monsters, and no talking. When they did, however, Mika began examining the structure of the building and the overall glamour the building gave off. Sesshoumaru had to drag her inside by her arm to prevent the miscarriage of the fetus due to extreme silliness.

The inside was even better than the outside appearance. There were four pillars of golden that stood on each side. At the very end of the long room, there was a blue and red throne, symbolizing power. Mika was in awe of everything there.

All of a sudden, the roof collapsed. Well, not on where Sesshoumaru and his pregnant lady were standing, but where the throne was. And soon, there was a woman there, sitting as if nothing had happened. However, falling through a roof without warning is a BIG happening.

The woman was by far plain or simple. Her silver hair was in two ponytails, tied with fancy green ribbons. She wore a three-layer kimono, complete with decorations only created by the best artists, while her tail curled her body below her shoulder and over her arms like a fur boa. She wore a dark shade of red that made her gray eye shadow stand out, almost making the marks on her face vanish. But no, the crescent moon that resembled the one that Sesshoumaru had and the red marks on the cheeks were there, telling Mika that she was a daiyoukai in human skin.

"Hello humans. May I ask you, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY, emphasis on _my_, MANOR?"

Her voice was booming loud, even causing the remaining rocks of the roof to fall some more. It made Mika cringe and want to hide in the corner. After all, the woman's livid appearance caused by her furrowing eyebrows was enough to suggest that she was going to kill the trespassers.

Then, she smiled and slapped the hair, laughing a laugh that sounded like "ohohoho". "You silly people, I'm just joking—so what do you want?" She giggled like a little girl before continuing.

Mika leaned into Sesshoumaru's ear. "She needs to get a new laugh, don't you think?"

The woman's face tightened. "I HEARD THAT!"

Mika stood up straight and tall, as if Satan was breathing down on her neck. "Yes mam, I am very happy and honored to be in your presence!" She saluted the woman.

"I'm poking fun, just poking fun," she said, smiling again.

Sesshoumaru turned his eyes over to Mika and then at the woman. "I for once, agree with her. You do need to get another laugh…" He frowned in disgust, as if he tasted something between dead chicken (no offense to my fellow chickens) and dodo. "_Mother_," he added.

Mika opened her mouth and let out her voice, letting it fill up everyone's ears. When she was done, she said, "Then again, it's not very surprising to hear that she's your mother."

His expression told her that he wasn't glad to hear that. Perhaps he had somewhat of a grudge toward his birth mother?

"I mean, you both have the same face, eyes, and personality." She gawked at the woman. "_Emphasis _on _personality_."

"Now you are copying my words human?" She pushed her hand against her neck to rest her head and flapped her hand at her son. "Sesshoumaru, eat her already! Humans go bad after a few months. They taste like rats, heheheh."

_This "mother" of yours is like a little kid. Are you sure she isn't your daughter or something?_

"You know something about Tenesiga, I believe?" Sesshoumaru questioned, bringing the reason of why he even came to this place to light.

His mother shrugged. "Remember, I am your mother, not a sword expert. Go talk to Totosai or something." She yawned and then sighed. "Really now, aren't you happy enough that your sword is a weapon?"

"And how do you know?" Mika yelled out, the tone of her voice louder than she intentionally made it to be.

A wicked smile made its way across her face. "Well, well, it's a secret." She stood up, facing Sesshoumaru and her attention only on Sesshoumaru. "Since you want to know so much about it…"

She waved her kimono sleeve, waiting for something to happen. Silence was the only thing happening however, for the next four or five minutes. Then, when they were over, a menacing bark that belonged to a bloodthirsty dog that snatched Mika and kidnapped her was heard.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME," Mika protested as the dog leaped into a circular dimensional door that lead to the Underworld.

Sesshoumaru's mother cackled with some more "ohohohoho" laughing and then nodded as Mika's head disappeared within the blackness. "Nope, miko-chan. I'm not kidding now. And so, with the annoying human out of the way, let's discuss Tenesiga—"

In the dimensional door dashed a human version of Sesshoumaru, faster than the speed of light or almost, just before his mother could tell him to stop.

When the door closed, the mother sighed. "What am I to do with your son, _Inu no Taishou_?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

Inside the world behind the opening the Underworld hound made, everywhere was pitch black. But there was some light coming from an invisible place Sesshoumaru couldn't see, even though the hole had closed and the dog made off with Mika. Before him was a path, gray and white, barely detailed enough to tell him it was going to crumble if he didn't start walking over it soon.

So he took a step forward, making big steps of course so he could catch up with the dog, but still at a walking pace to prevent the fall that awaited him if he hit the floor too hard with his shoe.

Ahead of him, Mika's shape was growing dimmer. He increased his pace and heard the low noise of the rocks breaking. Soon, he was sprinting across the path, chasing after Mika.

But then, she vanished from sight. He halted on a ground that had two broken off paths. To his right, there was a bright, blue light that led to the outside world. He heard his mother's voice talking about something like "escaping" and that he could get a human woman anywhere. To his left, the dog was faintly there, waiting with Mika in his mouth.

He glimpsed at Mika, whose eyes and mouth were closed tightly. Her eyebrows were arching very slightly, and around her waist were trails of blood that the dog's fangs were making into her skin. Surrounding her was an illumination he took to be her life source. But by now… she was dead.

"You must be worried about the light around her," his mother said. "Originally, when the dog had captured her, her life should've been consumed. However, there is life… other life that the dog had eaten." She paused for a sigh. "Have you heard of the death having more life than the living? This principle applies to now. Because she is pregnant, and I can tell with a look because I had you, the life the dog is eating… is the baby's. Of course, I don't see why you have to go to all this trouble to save a half breed. You hate your brother anyway right? Ohohohoho! _Saa, oide nasai Sesshoumaru. _Come out and let's have a nice, pleasant chat."

'_I can't shake my thoughts off of him. I… I miss him and I never felt that way about anyone before. I don't know what to do…' She threw her arms around the dog's neck, sobbing terribly hard, almost choking on her tears. He sat there emotionless, calm, and a bit irritated that she was just hugging him._

'_All right… I admit it… I was jealous of Nao…__just love him... I just do... I thought he looked cool, with his sword, he makes me think that I could become strong... no one ever looked at me...' She let go and stared intensely into his eyes. 'I'm such a weak person you know… I run away from everything I can't solve.' With her hand, she patted his head and looked at the sky. _

'_Oh Kami-sama, I love Sesshoumaru so much...'_

She was just like Kagura, who had died in "vain". She was just content with just being able to speak with him. Even if she was annoying, unbearably talkative, and troublesome, she was Mika. She had always expected him to understand and accept that.

Tenesiga reacted to that memory and pulsed, shaking ferociously in its scabbard. Sesshoumaru slapped his only hand over it and felt its warmth striking into him. The sword was telling him to go after, no choice given.

_Mika would do the same for you_, it seemed to say in its miniature dance.

The pathway his mother had opened was closing, the manor disappearing in the distance.

"Aren't you going to come out Sesshoumaru? It's not like you to save humans."

Ignoring his mother, he leaped to the left, forgetting he wasn't a daiyoukai and he couldn't just cruise through the air like that. However, this was also the world where the Master of the Underworld lay. Air and gravity didn't exist, even if there wasn't a path to walk on. So instead of tumbling into the nothingness below, his foot touched footing that could not be seen.

When he was right beneath the gigantic canine holding Mika in his mouth, the dog barked, the miko falling out of his mouth. Sesshoumaru caught her before she could hit the floor.

Her eyes or mouth didn't open. She was like a statue trying to resemble a real human, suspended in action.

While he stood there, Mika in his arms, the dog pouncing away into the darkness somewhere else, hands that belonged to the dead wishing to be saved attempted to grab at him. Tenesiga's warmth was all they wanted for their cold bodies.

Mika's body was cold too, but there was pulse in her neck. She was alive and she could be saved. Now that she was near Tenesiga too, the life that remained in her body should have been contained. So why wasn't she waking up?

Maybe they needed to get outside or something. Yes, that's right, outside where she would wake up! Sesshoumaru glanced at Tenesiga with all his might. Finally, the blade of the death, the fang of his father's opened up a way outside.

When oxygen hit her face like a tornado hitting a house, she jumped up in his arms. He immediately let her go, which made her bottom hurt very much when she landed on the floor. Rubbing it, she stood back up and yawned, her eyes closing for the big "ah".

"That was a good nap!"

Sesshoumaru glared at her. "You were sleeping?"

She opened one of her eyes, making her look like she was winking at him. "Yup. It was actually pretty comfy in that doggy's mouth. His breath was warm and his tongue was like a blanket!"

Frustrated at what he had done, he picked her back up and gawked at his mother. "Open the door. I'm going to throw her back in."

"HEY! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK! YOU HEAR ME SESSHOUMARU?" she cried, flinging her arms all around.

His mother shrugged. "I told you, you should've just left her in there. But anyway, I refuse to do what you request. Mothers don't do their sons favors."

"You were going to do one for me, just a while ago."

She got to her feet, her eyes widened with embarrassment. "I—I just simply wanted to show you some of my motherly affection. I just can't help but smother you with my love, can I?" she explained hastily.

"YOU ARE LYING MADAM," Mika screamed at the top of her lungs. At that tone, Sesshoumaru dropped her onto the floor again. "Ow, THAT hurt you know. How many times have I told you to be more delicate with me?"

Sesshoumaru smirked at her, a thing he didn't do unless he was either very ticked off or very amused at. Mika felt a shudder go down her spine. She decided his smile wasn't a good thing to see after all.

"Never," he said.

"A—ah—ah that's right! This is the first time! Or the second…" She quickly stood back up and brushed off some dust. An aroma of dirt and tree sap floated into her nostrils. "Uh… I don't smell that good."

Sesshoumaru's mother snapped her fingers. "I can help that. IMPIES!"

Instantly, a blue, ancient imp sauntered slowly to the front of the daiyoukai lady. "Y-yes m-my Mi-Mistress? H-How m-may I-I serve y-y-you?" He was stuttering an awful lot and was having a lot of difficulty pronouncing the syllables.

"Fix the roof and get me one of my old furisodes. That girl needs a bath too."

Sesshoumaru shot her a look and grimaced at the thought of Mika wearing his mother's clothes. "Mika will do quite fine without your stupid clothes."

The daiyoukai lady gasped. "Did you just call me, your mother, stupid?"

"I can say it again if you'd like it so much, my stupid mother."

"Oh, how dare you!" She turned to Mika. "What do you find in this idiotic, disrespectful son of mine? He has none of his father's good qualities!"

"What qualities do I have then, of my father's?" Sesshoumaru pondered.

As the imp she called forward shuffled his way next to Mika with a furisode of black, red, orange, and golden colors, Sesshoumaru's mother began to count her fingers the things he had inherited from his father. There was only one similarity.

"And that is that you like to flirt, play, and be around with women of all types. Seriously, you are your father's splitting image!"

Mika chuckled as the imp helped her into the heavy furisode, which was a type of garment that consisted of very long and graceful sleeves, symbolizing that a woman was single. "How is that one similarity?" She tugged on his sleeve, the one where he was missing a muscular arm. "Hey, hey, we got to go. Save Rin and Jaken remember? Number one priority on agenda!"

He returned his ghastly gaze back to her. "I know. You don't need to remind me. Now start walking."

She growled and jumped beside him. "I'm sort of hungry too, if you want to know…"

"I don't care," he spat. Mika pouted and seized his arm.

"Please, please, can we get some grub?"

"No," he replied.

She looked to the side. "But the baby is hungry!"

"I never asked if it was."

As they paced out of the door, Sesshoumaru's mother watched them with a considerate pair of eyes. She took a seat back down on the throne and laid her head back onto her hand. "Aren't they a cute couple?" She chuckled to herself. "Just like you and that human woman Izayoi, right Inu no Taishou? But he's growing… and that's all that matters."

The imp paused before heading back into the hall behind her throne. "Are y-y-you f-feeling a-a bit u-u-upset, M-Mistress?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Not at all. It's not my nature to be jealous or anything. As long as that boy is fine…" She stretched her arms up into the ceiling, or the hole that she dug through when she came crashing into her manor in such flashy manner. "I'm fine!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

It was only a few hours when Sesshomaru and Mika wandered into a cherry blossom area. Not very common at the time of the year, but it reminded Mika of old times… times she couldn't remember. In any case, the petals of the soft pink flowers made no sound when their feet went over them.

"Whoa, I didn't expect them still blooming. It's almost winter… wait, aren't these supposed to bloom in spring?" she said, holding a finger on her lips.

As soon as she said that, the flowers disappeared. The petals lifted themselves from beneath their shoes and flew into the air. They swirled around in a typhoon shape and then dispersed into the air.

_Inuyasha and I…_

"Did you hear that?" Mika said, flashing Sesshomaru a quick glance. The absence of a reaction told her that he didn't. She looked back at the sky, which was a hue of orange and pink.

_You can hear me? _

Mika knelt down, brushing her fingers across the dirt. Then she brought her hands against her ears. Why was there a voice in her head?

_I'm sorry; I didn't know you could hear me. I was simply reminiscing before I went to sleep…_

_Who are you, _Mika asked the voice in her head.

An image of a beautiful woman wearing a white kimono top paired with red hakama pants smiling a tiny smile on her face flickered into her mind.

"Kimiko," a voice called out to her.

Mika came back to reality and widened her eyes at the sight of the purple haired boy. In the dream she had hours ago, his hair was shortened and tied back, but now that she saw him again, she was certain. The boy in her vision was him, Ayumu, and she was Kimiko, the falling girl with yellow, inhuman eyes.

She was about half ready to run into his arms for no reason, but Sesshoumaru standing there made her stay. Just Ayumu's presence caused her heart to beat extremely fast. It wasn't love or anything though. It was simply panic, wasn't it?

"You again?" Sesshoumaru snapped in with an aggravated tone.

Ayumu tilted his head, a few amethyst bangs falling over his clear forehead. "I don't like you at all. It's your fault Kimiko became like this."

Mika opened her mouth to speak, hoping to avoid a battle, but Sesshoumaru apparently wanted to settle this way the man method. Drawing Tenesiga, he was about to charge toward him, but Ayumu didn't make an attempt to hold up his long sword. When it was obvious he wasn't going to make the first move, Sesshoumaru brought down the sword.

In a rage, Ayumu's blade met with his. A metallic sword, resembling laughter was created when the edges slid against each other.

"Give up Kimiko now, while you can escape me. You know you can't expect to beat me while you're human." He hacked the blade at him again, which Sesshoumaru blocked. But that wasn't it, because Ayumu thrust the blade into his face.

Sesshoumaru swiftly abandoned Tenesiga to avoid a hole in his face. As he leaped backwards, back to where Mika was standing, he brushed his hand across a bloodied cheek.

To Mika, Ayumu warned, "You should tell him to stop or something. When I'm serious, I can kill." He held the blade up to his eye and all of a sudden, his dark violet eyes turned lighter and lighter until it was a sky blue color. A burst of spiritual energy exploded from him. Steam emitted from the blade as he swung it around him in circles. When he was ready to attack again, he used the dashing move before and appeared before the injured Sesshoumaru in a split second.

Her internal senses alarming her that even Sesshoumaru couldn't survive that attack. With a yell, she mysteriously seized Tenesiga by using the same move Ayumu had done and then back again to her spot in the same, fast time, she swung the blade at him.

At that moment, her eyes shone too, a brighter color than her usual hazel-like brown eyes. Gold was the word for it, a youkai iris, did she have when Ayumu's now blue eyes met hers.

He jumped away from Sesshoumaru before Mika could strike his chest open. As his foot touched the grass gently, a sound very much like the vacuuming of air behind her was heard. She spun around and saw Sesshoumaru vanishing in a circular black void, almost like the one his mother had created.

"Heehee, another cute boy to kiss," a girl cried out from above. She was wearing her white hair into buns on each side and her black eyes were slanted, giving her a very mischievous appearance. She wore a short, sleeveless black kimono. Knives aimed at her heart darted her way. She ducked before it could hammer a hole into her. As Mika rolled away back onto her feet, she saw that the girl's hands looked like she was playing with string puppets.

"I believe she is the _one_," a voice belonging to a man with green hair exclaimed. Three bangs were plastered closely on one side of his eye, while one eye lay open. It too, was green. He wore a green and white kimono coat on top of his black yukata.

"_Yosha!_ New prey!" A boy leaped out from the forest. He had platinum blonde hair that stuck out from all sides of his head, like a porcupine's spikes. There were orange circles on his ears that Mika took as earrings. He was wearing no shirt unfortunately and only had a pair of black hakamas. His weapon was a long white rod that stood even taller than him.

"Mind you, that girl is mine," Honou screeched, arriving in a very flashy manner, with fire riding beside her as she came walking by. As usual, her crimson hair was slick and short. It stuck to her neck from behind while the front of her head had no bangs. This time, she was just wearing a black kimono, no decorations, and no flowers. In her hands were her metal rods; the ends already lit with flames.

"What did you do to Sesshoumaru?" she demanded, her hand gripping Tenesiga tightly. The demon inside her did not arise, probably because her Mika's anger was enough to subdue it.

The girl floating in the air, who had summoned those flying knives giggled. "Somewhere. Probably where our _Master _is. Anyway, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm _Tsurugi_, for swords and edges and all that awesome bloody stuff. And that's 'cause I have awesome silver hair, yeah?"

Ayumu rolled his eyes. "White hair, old bag."

The girl looked offended. "I am not old!" She pointed a knife in her left hand at the man with green hair. "He's _Garando_, meaning void, as you can see with his ability."

Honou, the red haired woman chuckled. "You haven't forgotten me, right? Just in case you did, I'm _Honou_ because I can use fire. Cool, yes?"

The boy wearing no shirt with large earrings on each side stabbed his thumb at himself. "I'm _Iken_. You can tell I love power. Right, Kimiko?"

Honou threw her arm on Ayumu. "Obviously, this little hot guy is Ayumu, your old partner in crime. The guy who can "walk" into dreams. Our vice-commander, you know?"

Mika held Tenesiga up protectively. Then she lowered it a bit, her golden eyes dulling and turning to an innocent brown again. "Y-You better tell me where Sesshoumaru is, or you'll regret it!"

Ayumu shook his head, his violet locks appearing lavender again. "Kimiko, you don't get. _You _are one of us."

Like a ghost, he faded from Honou's arm. She plunged onto the floor when he was no longer supporting her weight. He then reappeared behind her, where he grabbed the collar of her kimono. He pulled it down, revealing her back, while her face turned tomato red.

"WHAT THE—GET AWAY FROM ME—"

All of a sudden, these strangers turned their backs toward her. Their backs were bare now, showing her a faint scar. No, it wasn't a scar. It was a character or two, spelling out…

_Yume._

Dream… she mouthed. Then, pulling away from Ayumu, who was the only one who wasn't showing her his back, she fell to her knees. Garando, the man with green hair approached her with a mirror. With the help of another mirror, Mika could see clearly that she too had the tattoo.

"You see my fellow peer? You are one of us. An assassin of _Dream._"


	67. Episode 67

Episode 74: Friend?

Why did she have to be so curious? That was the reason why she even glanced at the mirror. She remembered screaming when she saw the reflection of the tattoo on her back. Or rather, the imprint of the characters making up _Yume_, the Japanese word for Dream. But just seeing this tattoo answered a lot of her unwanted questions about herself. It just gave more proof to those dreams she kept having; the ones about her running away from the boy, striking men down with a bloodied sword, and the loss of the "light" that shone before her.

This tattoo told her now and forever, that what she had been before she lost her memories, was an assassin. So she did kill people. Or try to, at least. She opened her mouth, hoping the word would come out in some sort of reply, but she ended up whimpering like an injured puppy. She couldn't believe it. Why couldn't she have been some princess locked in a tower surrounded by hungry youkai? That would've been much better, than being a _murderer_.

"That mirror… and that tattoo… you're lying," she managed to say after a few moments of silence.

Ayumu shook his head. "No. You're the one lying to yourself. You're the one running away from every problem that exists before you." He tugged on her hand, dropping the mirror he was holding. "Kimiko, believe us. This is who you are. This is your past. You have to remember."

Mika tore away from them, arms and legs shivering. As she pulled up her kimono, blurry memories of herself and other people ran into her mind, trying to break into that wall she had to protect herself from the past. She got up to her feet, Tenesiga in one hand, and the other just clutching at her own skin.

—_A helpless little girl ran up to the man towering over her and said, "I"—_

—_Screaming, she flung the blade at him, feeling his own slice through her skin—_

"Stop it," she pleaded, her grip on Tenesiga loosening it. When it slipped out of her fingers, she raised up her arms and held them against her ears. "It hurts…!"

The purple haired boy raced toward her. He wrapped her into a hug and stroked her hair. "Kimiko, don't reject those memories. It's the only way to—" At this, he paused, as if something was preventing him to speak. He decided to say something else. "Kimiko, come back with us to the headquarters. I'll try to tell you everything you need to know. You can even talk with that daiyoukai if you want."

"No, I don't want to go anywhere with you!" She pushed him away and felt the mushy dirt cushion her fall. "I… I have to do other things than follow my dreams! I have to rescue…"

All of a sudden, she couldn't move her legs. Her face twisted in agony, she held her tummy tightly with her hands. And without a doubt, she began to cry, the tears soaking the ground swiftly.

Iken, the man wearing no shirt and orange earrings, stood still with shock. Tsurugi also halted in her floating and landed to Earth.

"_Ara, ara, _did our _hime-sama_ lose her little precious something? Poor girl," she teased, her laugh wicked.

"What do you mean, her precious little something?" Iken asked her. Tsurugi stayed quiet on that matter.

But even without his subordinates giving him hints about Mika's condition, Ayumu knew. Perhaps he had supernatural powers and could see into the future. Or maybe someone had blabbered to him about Mika's womb… like a certain monk by the name of Izuru? Either way, his eyes turned a light amethyst again, the spiritual power leaking out of his body, his gaze focusing on Mika.

He could barely utter a word. All that came out was, "You… already…"

Mika opened an eye that was busy with the other eye being shut in pain, to look at him. "What I already…?"

His hands, as Mika could see from the corner of her eye, were being clenched into a fist. Was he mad? Or was he stunned, just as Iken was. Garando, who was still squatting with the mirror in hand, with his shirt on, had no comment.

"I see. I see how it is. _Midoriko_ already made her move." Then he laughed a laugh that was evil in a way and amused, something that didn't suit him. "That sly woman, she sure knew how to make the _rules_ bend her way."

Garando, the man with the green hair stood up and warned Ayumu about being careful about what he said. Ayumu shrugged it off.

"It's not like the old man is here to bother us anyway," he reasoned, his personality becoming quite different than what he acted like a few minutes ago. Even Mika, who "barely knew" him, was a bit surprised. She had a feeling he was one of the silent type, like Garando.

"Oh, hi Ayumu," a man wearing priest robes said, sliding out of a black void. He looked very much like Izuru; brown hair, tan skin, black eyes, and orange clothes. In fact, when Mika recognized this villainous voice, she knew it was the same man that had those monks of his, torture her for information. She shivered and tried to move. Her legs refused to understand what her brain was saying.

Ayumu immediately changed back to his obedient, quiet attitude. But he also seemed to fluster with worry, as if Izuru were his angry father waiting to see the evidence of his wrongdoing. He walked in front of Mika, attempting to hide from sight. However, Izuru had seen her already. His eyes glanced very swiftly at her since the very beginning of his sentence.

"Hello _Master_. Why aren't you at our _place_ recuperating?" he asked politely.

Izuru chuckled. "I decided to check up on you guys. You all are like my children, do you not understand?" He strolled casually up to Tsurugi, Iken, and then to Garando, receiving respectful nods as he passed by. Then he reached Ayumu, to whom he stroked his hand against his cheek. When his fingers were touching his nose, he raised his hand and slapped him.

"There, that's your punishment for telling our beautiful guest her surprise." He leaned in next to his ear, his voice soft with menace. "However, the next time I see you do something I don't like, for example, breaking the seal and really spill out the beans, maybe I'll give you a harsher punishment. Like… death to all, and the most gruesome death to your beloved Kimiko?"

Ayumu bowed. "Forgive me _Master_. I was simply being nice to her."

Izuru nodded. "Okay. I guess it won't change the situation anyway." He nudged Ayumu aside so that he could see Mika more clearly. The purple-haired boy reluctantly moved aside.

"Mika, Mika, Mika." He knelt down and glanced at her face, then at her stomach. "Ooh, the baby's healthy and alive! How great! It seems that one of your friends helped you get through the toughness of my poison, yes? It was one of my very special ones, you know. I'm so sorry to hear that it was a waste." He reached out and touched her stomach. "Hmm… almost there is it?"

Tsurugi, who was playing with random strands of her hair, was certainly confused. "But her stomach is flat. When you have a baby, isn't your stomach huge and ugly?"

Izuru continued to stroke the smooth skin beneath her furisode fabric as if he were her husband. "You forget that a certain someone sired the child. A sad accident, but it is most likely that the baby inside is a half-breed. They don't need as much time in womb as humans do. About… three months would be enough for them to grow. You could say she's the mother of an alien!"

Using the last ounce of strength, she knocked his hand away from her stomach and forced herself to sit up. "Don't touch me, you monk!"

"I am a priest, if you've forgotten."

Her hand found Tenesiga's hilt again and with anger fueling her, she brought it down at Izuru's shoulder, hoping it would tear though his flesh. The Meido crescent did open, but Izuru was nowhere to be found.

"What—" She instead felt the slash herself. The skin of her shoulder began to rip as the imaginary blade that was supposed to hit Izuru hurt her.

Izuru, having safely dodged the attack, shook his head in discontent of her. "Ah, I'm sorry. I'm afraid you're just as stupid as you've always been. I haven't educated you in who you are, correct? Therefore, how about I give you a hint?"

Ayumu didn't protest at all, but the others did. Tsurugi almost fell over, in fact as she shouted across the grass. "B-But _Master_ is that okay?"

Izuru nodded. "Yes, I'm the host, so it's fine." As the bone-chilling aura that surrounded all baddies swirled around him and snaked around Mika's neck, he turned back to her, his grin wide on his face.

"Ready? The person you are related to "lives" in the _sky_. Okay? That's it. That's all the hints I'm giving you. But you already know, don't you? After all, she appears in your dreams and I've said it all this time… her name that is. The rest is mystery you have to solve on your own."

Then, in an instant, Mika felt herself being picked up. The black void, resembling the one that had taken Sesshoumaru, surrounded her. Soon, all she could hear was Izuru getting angry at Garando…

~O~O~O~O~O~

"A-Ayumu, what are you doing?" she asked, when she realized that the strong arms that held her securely were the purple haired boy's. He set her down without letting go and then stared at her, into her eyes.

"Mika, I'll do anything for you. I'll die, I'll kill, anything you say. From the very beginning I saw you again; I knew I was the one." Then, with an inhale, he reopened his eyes, his irises turning lavender again. Soon, they were in a dream world, a world which he had complete control of.

In the dream world, Ayumu showed Mika a woman wearing miko clothes. She was about 5'2 tall and she was around the age of eighteen. Her hair was black and there were several highlights telling her hair was very silky. She carried a longbow and she wore sandals for shoes. This priestess was walking into a cave.

When she was inside, Mika saw she was reading a description or a prophecy as an old man who was standing beside her said. The woman began to read, the words she was making sounding very real, as if Mika were there too.

_Four came from one__  
__The one made four__  
__The Four became whole__  
__And it was done__  
__The one is gone__  
__The four exists__  
__Enveloped by purple mists__  
__It will be gone__  
__When it is gone__  
__And when it is done__  
__The one will rise__  
__And make another one__  
__So then__  
__Will it finally end__  
__The curse of the first one_

"_Um, Kikyo-sama..."_

~O~O~O~O~O~

"What was that?" Mika demanded, grabbing the collar of Ayumu's black clothing.

"The Prophecy that Kikyo had stumbled. It is a very thing that binds this world…" Again, his mouth closed unwillingly, telling Mika that there were things he couldn't say. _I bet Izuru has something to do with this uncommon pausing in his explanation._

"And what does that have to do with me?"

Ayumu thrust a finger at her forehead. The impact pushed her back, her butt hitting the floor again. "Think Kimiko. These riddles are the only way to get out of this."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't tell you, because I'm not allowed. You have to figure this out. For now, answer this question. _Who are you_?"

Mika paused. There were many choices. _An assassin of Dream, a miko named Hashi Mika, or an ordinary woman carrying a half-breed child. _But she didn't know. So she said, "I have no answer!"

Ayumu looked a bit disappointed, but he was still moving on. "Next question; in the prophecy, it mentions "four came from one" and "one made the four". _What is it talking about?_"

Utterly speechless, she scratched her head and shook her head. _Four came from one… souls…_

As if Ayumu were helping her cheat on a test, she was thrown into another world. The same woman named Kikyo was now in a temple. There was a similar looking girl sitting beside her, however, her green clothing distinguished her from the miko. Kikyo was talking about "Midoriko's will and mine…"

"Midoriko… and the Shikon no Tama; that's what the "four came from one" and "one made four" means!" It was a simple riddle. After all, her mentor had pounded the facts about the Shikon no Tama in her head. That it was created using four souls by the name of courage, friendship, wisdom, and love. Midoriko had all four and by fighting youkai for seven days and seven nights, her four souls created the one and only, Shikon no Tama.

"Correct," Ayumu cried, happy that Mika finally figured something out. "Now, with that in mind, figure out the rest on your own." He wrapped his fingers over his for the final time and bent over so that his mouth was beside her ear. "You know where the headquarters is. You'll find _him_ there. Just be careful. The rest of the assassins aren't going to follow my orders. They're going to try to kill you and so are the monks." He left her ear and patted her stomach. "You better hurry too. The baby's going to come."

Mika nodded. "O-Okay, I'll do my best!" She smiled at Ayumu. "Thanks, Ayumu. I know you're in trouble because of me."

The purple haired boy returned her smile with a kiss on her cheek. "It's okay."

Mika yelled in shock when he gave her the kiss. "AHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I didn't kiss your mouth, so it's fine—"

The miko shook her head. "Not fine, not fine! The only person who can kiss me is my mother, my father, any siblings I happen to have, and—"

Ayumu shot her a cynical and some sort of fake jealous look. "And Sesshoumaru right?"

"YOU HUSH UP!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

The temple was just as wicked as it had been when she first came here with Bankotsu. Mika scratched the back of her neck, wondering why the monks had called her "one of the three". She also found herself thinking about the boy with the long braid. He was mysterious too; heck everyone she knew so far was mysterious.

She shook her head. She needed to get Sesshoumaru, Rin, and Jaken out of here fast. Just like Ayumu had warned her, the monks were swarming the place. Apparently, one of their head priests named Izuru had disappeared and a dead miko by the name of Kikyo had just fallen through the praying room.

"Let's see, where the main room is—"

"Mika-san?" a certain Kohaku asked.

She spun around in surprise, almost screaming when Bankotsu and a little girl following was right behind him. Jiro was there too, and all three of them were quite angry. They were shouting something that sounded like "stalker"…

"What are you doing here? And those idiots behind you… were you stalking them?"

"Well, I sort of landed in front of them and I was scared so I ran around. I've been running circles for the past few days until I met you." He rubbed the back of his head with a free hand. His right arm was clutching the chain scythe.

"What do you mean landed? Unless you grew wings and flew…"

"Oh no, you see, this man with green hair teleported me somehow."

_Garando,_ she thought to herself. That man had strange abilities, and she bet anything that his comrades had such abilities too. _Tsurugi could control objects without touching them… Garando can teleport, Iken I have no idea what he can do, Honou controls flames, and Ayumu is a__** Dreamwalker**__…_

"Oi, oi, it isn't really you, is it?" Bankotsu halted and put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "I can't believe you're here again! You and your twin must love delusional monks."

Mika smiled at him. "It's great to see you again—"

Jiro leaped at her, flinging his arms around her neck. He tightened his hold as Mika resisted and pushed against his chest. She called him "harasser" and many other insulting names, but he simply rebuffed by rubbing his cheek against hers. Soon, when Mika was losing air, he let go reluctantly and inspected her face with his red eyes. "You're beautiful as ever Misa-chan… I want to kiss you—"

She shoved a hand full of dirt into his face. "NO ONE IS GOING TO TOUCH MY FACE WITH THEIR GREASY MOUTHS! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"What's that?" a voice that belonged to a monk cried. A fellow comrade began to shout and point in their direction. Mika had to bite her tongue to prevent from screeching. She seized Jiro, Kohaku, and Bankotsu's collar as she made her way to another hiding place. Kyoko, who was far away from reaching the rest of the group, was in the hostiles' sight.

"It's that miko that Izuru-sama wanted!"

"No, she's too small!"

"I'm sure it's her! Arrest her!"

Immediately, the guards and other low-ranking priests pinned her down with rakes and shovels they must have stolen from a storage shed. They poked her harshly and spoke in menacing tones. Kyoko screamed in agony, crying out for Bankotsu. She slapped the metals but it was ineffective and only injured her with bruises. Soon, they had her tied up and in their custody. As they marched back to the temple, Mika growled and gritted her teeth.

"Three people and one stranger to rescue; isn't it great I get the spotlight today? Now how am I going to fight all these guys…?" She faced Bankotsu who was still lugging that gigantic sword that required the strength of three fit men to lift. A solution appeared in her brain. "Of course, you're here!"

Bankotsu gave her his most convincing look that told her "I-don't-want-to-do-anything-you're-going-to-ask-me-to-do".

Mika flashed him butterflies with her eyelashes and put on her puppy eyes. She even pulled down one side of her kimono a little, to which he flushed tomato red and pushed her away before she could do anything more to persuade him. Of course, Mika won without any serious sacrifices. Standing up, he winged his sword around in a circle and charged at the monks taking Kyoko away. The rest sat in the bushes watching the epic fight.

"TAKE THAT YOU COWARDS! YOU WANT SOME OF THIS? AND BY THE WAY, I LOVE EATING MONK CORPSES!" he shouted, Banryuu already knocking out the monks. In his mind, he would've loved to kill them, but Kyoko and Mika's eager, innocent eyes prevented him from doing so.

"Bankotsu-onii-chan! You saved me—" Kyoko started to say, but Bankotsu already untied her ropes and put her up on his shoulders. With a huff and a puff, he marched back to Mika.

When Kyoko's brown eyes met Mika's however, she lost all of her bubbly personality and remained stunned. Mika, who was shocked as well, stared at her strangely. She waved a hand before the girl's eyes and scrutinized her from different angles. But Kyoko continued to stay still.

Then she spoke. "Momma," she said.

Mika smacked the ground with her forehead. _Nani, nani_, was what she was mumbling to herself. _How does she know I'm a mom? No, no, this girl is just weird. She's just…_ Raising herself back to a sitting position, she shook her head. "N-No, I'm not a mommy!"

Bankotsu cringed. "She called me Papa and you Momma… what if…" An obscure image of a black shadow appeared behind him that resembled a black hooded man with a scythe.

Jiro pounced onto Kyoko. "WHAT ABOUT ME?"

Kyoko tilted her head. "Uncle!" Jiro recoiled into a fetal position.

Kohaku pointed to himself. "Then what am I?"

The little girl beamed and shot her arms toward the sky. "My boyfriend!"

Bankotsu slapped his hands onto her shoulder and started to shake her back and forth. "I'm thinking about letting you back to those monks. How does that sound?"

"I'm joking," she said nervously. She turned to Jiro, Mika, and Kohaku. "Jiro and the boy are my friends. The girl that looks like me is an old hag!"

Mika's face went pale and tears rolled down her face. "How-how c-come her view of me w-went down?" She faced the tree beside the green bush and hammered her fist against it several times. "Do I look… look… th-that o-old?"

"Pierce her, my beautiful knives."

With that sentence said out of nowhere, Mika returned to the situation before them and shifted her attention to Tsurugi. Her face was the same as Ayumu; unwilling to kill Mika, but she had to or otherwise. Her knives aimed at Bankotsu and everyone else with the intent of murder, it darted toward the ground. When it was drilled into the ground, it resurfaced again to hit the dodging victims.

This time however, it successfully hit Kyoko and Kohaku. They plunged to the ground, the grit tasting bitter as ever in their mouths. Bankotsu and Jiro stood still, watching Tsurugi pull out weapons inside her sleeves.

"Then how about this; a tornado of weapons and other stuff just for you guys?" With five knives in one hand, and another batch in the other, she flung it at them. Then, before they could touch the ground, she took out some more projectiles that included axes, short swords called wakazashis, arrow heads dipped in poison, needles, smoke bombs, and sharp pointy rocks.

They sliced the earth like a pizza, evenly and deadly. It tore away parts of their clothes and sometimes drew blood from their cheeks and arms. Kohaku counterattacked by wrapping his chains around some of the weapons, but there were too many coming at them. Bankotsu couldn't shield himself well enough either, because they were coming from all directions, floor or air. And Jiro was tired and wanted a drink of water. The pregnant girl Mika was also not supposed to be dodging and having such rigorous exercise.

All of a sudden, Mika told everyone to meet up in the temple. By running, that meant agreement and that meant she'd needed to get there as well. Tsurugi instantly reacted to this and tried to stop them, but while sprinting, aiming became a problem for her. She retreated in disappointment and disappeared.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When they were inside, Mika sat down against a column and took deep breaths. She also scourged the area for a weapon, just in case she needed to defend herself. Fortunately and surprisingly, there was sword of demon aura in the corner. Ripping off a torn part of her furisode and tying it nicely until the hilt could not be seen, she held the blade up into the air. It was the sword Totosai had forged her.

"Nice sword," Bankotsu commented, looking her way. She giggled anxiously.

"Not as big as yours though." She shot his blade a look. "Can I try holding it?"

He scowled. "No, don't touch my sword."

"Aren't you a crabby one?"

Jiro coughed in the corner, laughing at Bankotsu's parent-like attention he was giving to his weapon. "He calls his sword his "baby"… heheheheh…"

The man with the long braid laughed too, with a sinister tone to it. "Yes, and she likes sawing stupid vampires to shreds." Kohaku, who was also leaning against a column, struggled to keep his laughter under control.

Mika put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't kill anyone. It'll attract attention—"

"Hi oba-san," Kyoko said to a passing nun, who was around the age of pre-teen. She looked offended when Kyoko called her that and immediately called for priests.

The three resting in the corner began banging their heads against sturdy walls. "_Kami-sama_, please grant me a swift and happy death so I can get away from this brainless girl," they chanted.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"So why the heck do I need to be with you," Bankotsu whined as he was dragged by two priests, walking side by side with Mika.

Her hair, tangled with sweat and dirt, no longer shone with glimmer. Highlights were lost in the darkness, but her eyes were bright as ever, radiating a hope that wouldn't die. She smiled and kept an optimistic view of their situation. "Friends stick together to the end. And you're my friend, right? Together we'll rescue everyone and have a party afterwards!"

He turned the other way, not blushing but just upset at her choice of words. "Friend, huh?" He tilted his head halfway toward to the ceiling with hanging lanterns two inches away from their faces. "It's been a while since I've been called that. Probably about ten years since I've heard that word being spoken. When I came back into this world, none of my brothers were alive. I was alone…"

Mika nodded. "I've been alone too, until I met Sesshoumaru. He was really aloof, but I know he has a heart. It may not be warm and he may secretly hate us all, but for the time being, if I think of him as my friend I feel a lot better. In a world filled with hatred and war, you can't be alone. If you are lucky enough to be surrounded with friends, you can live. I believe that is the true meaning of happiness."

Bankotsu closed his eyes and smirked. "You think of some deep things. But… no matter how I wish, I can't be happy."

The miko in custody refused to give in to the tug the priest was giving her to silence her mouth. "W-Why? Even if you died and came back to life, don't you want to try? To even revive is a miracle, a chance given to those only chosen!"

Finally, the priests spun around, pausing in their way toward to the torture chambers again. "Shut your traps before I go tell the others to kill your friends!"

Mika showed him a frowning face with gritted teeth. "I'm not talking to you, was I?"

"People like you should just be quiet! You're not going to live very long anyway." He continued to walk, forcing her feet to move. Still showing her teeth, she tried to speak with Bankotsu again.

"So, why can't you be happy?"

Bankotsu glanced at her, his eyes full of pity mixed with envy. She almost jerked away from his eyes when she saw them. They were the same when she first met him, sleeping peacefully on a tree. Sorrowful, regretful, full of emptiness, and just telling a story of how painful it was to walk. Through those blue windows, he was telling her that he felt weak at times even though he would not admit. Cold and lonely in a big wide world such as the one they lived in.

"Take that miko named Kikyo for example," he said, Mika flinching because she knew who that woman was, just from watching an illusion woven by Ayumu. "She died, hating the man she loved. When she came back, she had no room. The world moves on, leaving the dead behind, like an unwanted child. The man she had loved still loved her, but he had other things on mind. She was confused and she wanted to go back. She was just an empty shell of what she used to be after all.

"In my case, I lived a life of a killer. It's fun, but there are times when even I think of the people I killed. When I died, I had no regret. However, when I had this chance taken away and then brought back again, I started to think. How troublesome this was and why I was pulled away from sleep. I watched the living merrily skip down their road, feeling content with their decision. I began to feel that if I could skip like that, I would have this life taken away from me. Then again, that wouldn't mean anything, because I don't even want it. When I hear people tell me these kind things, I feel disgusted. It's as if you're trying to force me to be happy, when I want to sleep. I can't be happy… it's…"

She knew what he felt was something she wouldn't understand. But now, she was beginning to relate to him. In a way, she had died once, trying to avoid whatever problems she had. Running away from the dark sins that were attempting to take her life but she wanted to cling onto it. Without even a reason… she kept on living. She wanted to start over with a new conscience…

"We're here—"

Before the priest could finish, Mika shoved her sandal into his mouth. Bankotsu retreated from the girl's assault and then grinned. "That's how I like to settle things," he said, admiring her brave feat. With no effort at all, the ropes loosened automatically from his arms. The priest that was holding his rope almost screamed.

"W-What in the world? How did you—"

Bankotsu flashed him a smug look. "I can untie knots unlike you, stupid!" He shot him an uppercut and seized his elbow. He tugged it down, along with the priest's entire body until he was on the floor. Then, like a child he jumped on top of his back, his weight crushing the priest's ligaments connecting his bones and some of the bones that made up the spine. Fortunately for the victim, the spinal cord had no damage.

Leaving him on the floor, he raced after Mika, who halted before the door of the torture chamber. Taking in a deep breath because she was not planning to smell the fumes of the blood inside, she put her hands on the door and pushed against it. Creaking, the door began to swing inside when all of a sudden, she felt Bankotsu's arms wrap around her waist.

An explosion inside told her that it was only the help of the braided mercernary that saved her life. As she cringed from pain, laying in his arms, she opened an eye to quickly take in the surroundings. Ahead of them in the shadows were Garando and Iken. From the remains of a void that was curling itself up into nothingness from where Mika was just standing, the miko girl deduced that he was planning to teleport her to a cliff where she would fall to her death.

Iken had his rod out, the end illuminating light with static eletricity. His grin was just as murderous as the one Bankotsu could give to everyone. "Oi oi, take a look at this. Ayumu's hime has been stolen. Keh, he's going to give us a pathetic time now."

Garando stayed silent, his hand the only movement he allowed. He rose it before him and his eye flashed light green for an instant. Black shadows escaped the walls, orginally the shadows that the light cast against the walls, dancing toward Bankotsu like snakes. Holding Mika like a precious bride, he leaped away from the floor and away to another safer location. He propped her against the wall and blocked the black snakes with his arm.

The black snake quickly split itself into thin but sturdy strings that coiled around his wrist. It dug into his flesh, but he was prepared. With an evil glint in his eye, he reached into his kimono top with his free hand and revealed a knife he had taken from the giant Yukuro had met when he was revived. Slashing the black strands as he broke away, he flung the knife at Garando.

Iken countered the projectile with a flick of his rod. Like lightning and true to the electricity emanating from the rod, he hurtled toward Bankotsu. He clashed the rod at his leg, to which the electricity crept into his body and charged a million volts into him. However, when he stepped back, Bankotsu's tell-tale smile still on his face, a hand grasped his neck.

"Didn't hurt a bit," he said, his face bruised up and his body smelling of burning corpses, but he was alive indeed. Iken's eyes widened.

"You're a corpse…!"

"Darn right," he cried, slamming him at the floor and leaving as soon as he felt the force knock out Iken. He leaped into the air and landed next to the knife. He snatched it just as Garando brought his hand down at him, his fingers stiff which resembled a simliar cutting tool as Bankotsu was using.

Par on par was the game the knife and Garando's hand was playing, but Bankotsu was sweating. The knife wasn't even cutting into his flesh. Instead, as he pushed harder, he thought hard the sound of a metallic item.

He blinked and almost dropped his weapon. For Garando's hand was no longer of human skin, but of steel and possibly iron. It was as if the human skin was a bag trying to hold in air, but the bag exploded from too much force. The remains of the bag would then lie against the invisible air.

That was how his left hand against his knife looked like. A metal thing that was made to extend, bend, and be as flexible as human phalanges should be. But the skin that was ripped away to reveal this metal contraption, it was making Bankotsu gag. Though he had seen many worse things in his two lives than this.

"So not only do you teleport, you're made of metal? Hmm, aren't you guys weirdos," he said, straining against the easily overpowering strength Garando was giving him. The emotionless assassin stared at him.

Then he spoke in a matter-of-factly tone. "I am strange being yes, but what are you? A boy who doesn't know what to do in his life? A boy who abandoned and destroyed a girl's hopes? Who are you, is the question here. After all," he said, his eyes piercing into Bankotsu's soul, "you remember everything, unlike our princess sleeping over there."

His hand slid through his knife like paper. "You remember every tone and every voice. The screams, the cry, the splash of blood onto your face. The village roads and trees that bloom with sakura flowers when spring comes. Your kind, beautiful, and understanding mother whom you murdered with your own hands. Your father, who left you and came back when there was no place for him. And the _girl_, hiding behind the trees, hiding… always hiding…"

Mika woke up, retracting her legs and hugging them as she huddled in the corner. She watched Bankotsu lost focus and began to breathe heavily. The same sad and disoriented eyes came back, his angry aura resurfacing.

His arms were heavy, so heavy that he could not hold the knife any longer.

"The girl was so young, so innocent. She was so happy, yet so sad. You played with her and laughed with her and was her friend. But, you liked her frowning. You liked the way things were going. Why not make it even better?"

Without a word, Garando's hand sliced through his knife and started proceeding up his arm. Blood seeped out of tiny wounds he left behind from his razor sharp metal on his hand. "You left, leaving shattered memories ahead. But who cares, right? You were having fun, you didn't need anyone. You could do anything you wanted… right?"

Soon, the hand that was like ice and a blade reached his neck. Prodding hairs away, he revealed a mark very like the one Mika had. "See? The mark _Mika_ gave you when she tried to _kill_ you? And yet—"

His aura, a fury unmatched by no one, not even Mika when she could not stop the killing lust inside her, increased in seconds. He seized his hand, pulling it away from his neck with no effort. Showing no mercy, his eyes a dull and furious blue, he began to squeeze. His teeth gritted against each other and his attention only on Garando, the braided mercenary said one, menacing sentence with emphasing on each word.

"_Touch me with your stinking hands and I'll rip the guts from your stomach out,_" he threatened, Garando's metal hand fracturing with each second passing. Soon, the weird steel hand the assassin owned on his left arm was busted.

Iken awoke, the electricty prancing around him. As he knocked a palm against his head, he glanced over at Garando and Bankotsu. The man with green hair and eyes returned his gaze with a nod.

Garando vanished from sight, obviously retreating since his hand was broken and he seemed to out of possible weapons. Leaving only the platnium blonde hair man who wore no shirt as always. Mika, who was still in the corner feeling quite content that Iken had completely ignored her, watched with a creeping fear the fight that Bankotsu and Iken were going to have.

But before Iken could strike him with electricity, Bankotsu started to pace toward him. Slowly and dauntingly, his eyes resembling a sleek cat hunting a deer. His footsteps were silent and carried no sound, no evidence to prove that he really existed. In his right hand was the knife that had the sharp end cut off, but he still clutched it as if it were his precious safe-keeping item.

Then he collapsed.

Pushing aside Iken, who was surprised that Mika was even alive, she ran to his side and was about to touch his shoulder when he jolted. Gradually, he shoved his weight against the floor to get back up. When he was facing Mika with revulsion and unbearable hate, she shuddered and backed away. _What's his problem?_

From the corner of her eye, she could see he had a scar on his neck too. As soon as he knew she was looking at it, he reached up and covered it with a dirtied hand. He looked like a rabid beast now, gleaming his pearly whites at her. She held a hand to her chest and retreated slowly back to her corner, his gaze never leaving her.

Then he stood up, his shoulder immediately shedding blood that traveled to the floor like a hose feeding water to trees. He turned to his left and exited the torture chamber, bumping into the table that was used to hold down victims as he made his way to the door.

When he was out of sight, Mika jumped out of the corner and nudged Iken back onto the floor. Of course, by now he was mad at being pushed away like some toy, but she was out the door before he could do anything else. As the last strand of her black hair brushed against the wall, Iken sighed.

"Jeez, I sure wish she chased me like that when she was still with us."

~O~O~O~O~O~

He could hear the pacing footsteps behind him. But his mind was going blank, so he just rammed his good shoulder into a tree and slid down to the floor. His hand was grappling his shoulder, making it more painful than it should've been, but he felt as if he didn't have his hand there his shoulder would fall apart into pieces.

"Bankotsu! Wait!"

Her voice was too loud. He wished she didn't have to yell. Not even bothering to open his eyes, he felt her hair tickle his face.

"You're injured and stuff. Ooh, that's some weird pus coming out of your shoulder."

He chuckled. All of a sudden, he felt a hand on his forehead that belonged to hers. It was so warm… he wished her hand was there all the time.

"Uh oh. I would've thought a dead guy like you would survive better than this. Hold still, okay? I'm going to—oops…!"

He felt her finger poke his shoulder. He gave a cry of pain and forced his eyes awake. Mika was giggling nervously. She lifted a bloody finger from her lap and showed it to him. "I didn't do anything serious, I promise!" Her eyes darted back to his wound. "I think."

Closing his eyes again, he let himself fall into her lap. She could hear her flustering and confused cries, but she was very warm; a contrast to his cold body. Eventually, he could feel her prop him against her shoulder. Her hair covered his nose and mouth, giving him the sense that he was hugging a dog.

Then, he put the arm that was connected to his good shoulder on hers. The miko's shoulder cap was so small… a ball in his fist. He felt her tense up and her head turning. Her voice seemed far away as she asked him what he was doing.

"Sleeping," he answered with no frustrated tone in his voice.

"No, don't go to sleep. Sleeping is bad… if you..." She shut her eyes and reopened them. "LOOK, DO YOU WANT TO SLEEP IN A DERANGED TEMPLE LIKE THIS?"

His hand crossed to her head. "Shut up," he demanded. Somehow, as he stroked her hair slowly, the words had no effect on her. She shoved him aside, only to grab his braid to prevent him from hitting the floor.

By the time she had him back into her arms, as if she were a mother rocking a child to sleep, he had his arms around her waist.

* * *

**Author Note: For some strange reason, this chapter is 17 pages long on Microsoft Word. Usually it's 13 and I probably won't do 17 pages like that again. Maybe it's because I wanted to squeeze in some "lovey-dovey" stuff in this. Heheheheh.... anyone thinks Mika's going to be stuck in a love triangle? Well that's not possible because Yukuro won't allow. (Hmm, you wonder why Yukuro... :D::D:D:D:D:D)**

**And yes, I'm an evil author because I love leaving you guys at cliffies and random fluffy chapters.**


	68. Episode 68

Episode 75: A Present from an Unlikely One

Mika was doing her best to uphold Bankotsu's unlikely, but as reality told it—_heavy_ weight. She reasoned with herself that it must be the muscles he had hidden under that blue fabric of his. Nevertheless, the thing was at that moment was whether or not he was heavy, but was this question. _Were they going to get out of this place alive?_ On top of that, she had come here to rescue Sesshoumaru and the rest of the gang that got captured; leaving with so many people was not an easy task.

Obviously, she needed help. But with a sleeping deranged zombie on her shoulder, frantic and just as crazy monks running around with torturing devices, there were no signs of possible allies. Ayumu wasn't there to help her and betray his comrades. Bankotsu was useless at the moment. Mika had no sword to go killing with. Just who would help her?

And then… the white snake slithered into the door. The snake transformed into none other than Yukuro. Mika was so glad; she almost flung Bankotsu right out into the deadly open.

"Whoa," Yukuro said when she saw the braided mercenary being supported by the miko. "If Sesshoumaru sees you with that guy, he's going to never leave your side, you know."

Mika gave the fastest chuckle she could muster and immediately frowned. "Look, joking aside, I'm so happy you've arrived. I need help here?"

Yukuro shrugged. "I'm not in favor of dead guys. But if it's you asking, I'm okay with helping." She snapped her fingers and suddenly, the floating snakes she commanded wrapped around Bankotsu and lifted him in the air. Mika felt her shoulders loosen up from the pressure.

"Thanks Yukuro, you're a life saver! By the way, how did you know I was here and in danger?"

Of course, this coincidence was too good to be true. Mika was skeptical about every inch of her surroundings.

The silver haired woman gave a hearty laugh. "Uh, you see, I was looking for an antidote for the poison in your stomach. But what I found was something different. I then ended up coming back here and bumped into you. It's almost like destiny right?" She tightened her face and pulled out a piece of paper. "After we rescue that stupid dog, I'll tell you all about it. It's really shocking and quite… twisted, you might say. So anyway, before we get going, how's your stomach?"

Yukuro was asking about the baby. Mika smiled and told her that nothing bad had happened so far. She felt no pains throughout these three months and the worse of the worse, which was vomiting during her first weeks of pregnancy, was over.

"Still I can't say; it was quite shocking that you're carrying his kid. Seriously, I don't think he had anything to do with siring the child or something. But if it turns out to be half breeds, then he must really like you." Yukuro poked her head out of the door of the room Mika was in. Bankotsu stayed suspended in the air, the snakes moving time to time to adjust their positions.

"This way," she said, gesturing to the miko. They lay low as they slipped past the guards and into another big room. This room was darker than the one they were in and quite smellier. But Yukuro's sarcastic and bubbly mood was so nostalgic. It helped Mika stay composed about her situation. Honestly, she felt as if she could skip right into their arms and be executed without a frown.

_It's so good to see her again_, she thought as she stared at the woman. Her eyes fell a little and returned to the blackness before her. As she felt the walls with her fingers, she thought about her parents. Suddenly, she realized that she didn't know who her parents her. Their faces were nothing but blank ovals sitting on top of kimonos. There was no memory, no image to build on.

The crying of a child awoke her from these lonely thoughts. She brightened up instantly and asked Yukuro if it was Rin, the petite girl wearing an orange kimono. The silent nod she made out with the little light illuminating from the snakes dragging Bankotsu along told her _yes_.

"I'll go in there first," Yukuro said, transforming into a snake. She crawled with stealth across the floor and into what Mika heard as metal. Rin's voice bounced off the hollow walls, enabling Mika to listen on the brief conversation the snake had with her.

"Mika-san… is here to save us? I can't wait to see her…" The sound of a _thump_ echoed into Mika's ears. What had happened?

The white snake came back and seized her shoulders in panic. "Oh my gosh. You would not believe what I saw."

Mika pushed her hands away and tried to calm her down. "What's wrong?"

"THE MOST PERFECT BUILDING STRUCTURE OF A CAGE!" She squealed and hugged Mika. Then she shook her head and slapped her cheeks. "Oh, I'm sorry. I got a little off topic there… heh heh."

"WHO'S THERE?" the voice of a priest said. Yukuro slapped herself again.

"Shoot. I gave us away. Come on," she said, pulling Mika toward the darkness. When she bumped into the cage where Rin was imprisoned, Yukuro went in the opposite direction.

"I'll distract them," she had whispered before running off.

"Right," she had replied to no one as she struggled to feel the locks. When her fingers slowly examined a square box with a keyhole in it, she began to pull. She tried to remember all the times when she began increasingly mad; the sad times and the times where she could just destroy the world.

That did it and her fury fueled the energy she needed to access superhuman power. With a _clang _and a _katchak_, Rin fell out into her arms. Mika patted her head and helped her to her feet. As her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, Mika could see that Rin hadn't eaten in a while. The evidence was her legs, which were beginning to thin. The monks most certainly didn't care much for their prisoners. A renewed hatred for this temple grew inside Mika.

She lent Rin her shoulder to rest on as she carried her out of the temple from the passageway they came through. It was really hard to see and now that she had Rin on her back, she had only one hand to feel for the walls. All of a sudden, it felt cramped and suffocating. She hoped they hadn't gone a long way.

As she shuffled across the gritty floor, she thought she heard another cry. She stopped and pondered about turning back. Jaken, Kohaku, and other people may be in there. If she just rescued Rin… what was the point of coming here? Her purpose was to get _everyone_. Scowling even though no one was watching, she turned around and hurried back to the cages.

She put Rin back on the floor, brushing her hand across her cheek to make sure she was still breathing, and then raced to the source of the cries. However, in her hurry, she tripped over her furisode and plunged to the ground. She sat up after a few minutes, her hands rubbing the sore part that had hit the ground the hardest and then realized there was a light in the back; a green, lukewarm light that also seemed to be where the weeping was coming from. Mika approached the cage cautiously.

Inside the cage was a beautiful young girl in her teen age. Her skin was fairer than Mika's and her long tresses were not black, nor the rare brown, but a bright green. When she glanced at Mika, pausing from sobbing, she could see that she had no pupils, making her very alienable. Her slender eyebrows made her gentle and timid in Mika's eyes.

"Who are you? Are you one of them?" she asked, her voice a pretty melody.

Mika shook her head in front of this captivating girl. "No, I came here to rescue my friends. I'm not a bad person."

The girl replied by wiping her tears and grappling the bars surrounding her. "This may be selfish of me, but can you let me out of here too? I want to go home and see my family… even if they're all dead and burnt to ashes."

_Burnt to ashes… if I'm correct in thinking…_ "Was your village burnt by a woman with fierce red hair?"

"Yes, the same people who captured me. Please help me," she pleaded. Mika nodded and wrapped her hands around the bars. With much more ease than before when she was trying to get Rin out, the bars bent and made a hole large enough for the fragile lady to come out. The miko stepped aside for her to leap onto the floor with complete silence.

As she seemed to float onto the ground, she could see that the girl was wearing a similarly flashy green kimono such as hers. It was drooping to the floor with more layers than Mika thought, so she must have been a royal princess or something. Around her arms was a silk boa without the feathers, a contrasting mellow red with a golden stripe running in the center.

She turned to Mika and bowed. "Allow me to be of assistance as you find your friends. Now that I am no longer bound, I can utilize my powers. Would you like me to locate your companions?"

Confused by the wording of her words, but in need of any help herself, she agreed to the girl's offer. The girl raised her arms, her sleeves showing 12 layers of beautiful fabric. As soon as she did, her mouth opened, sucking in the air around them. Mika couldn't help but feel holy as she stood in her presence.

Then, she lowered them and smiled at Mika. "Your friends are fine. They are a bit thin, but they are alive. I shall lead you," she said, eyeing Bankotsu who was still floating in the little passage Mika had come out of, "and your friends," she added.

The same green light that had warmed Mika right to the toes illuminated their eyes. In short few ten minutes, they were standing in the middle of a large room, lit by several huge lanterns. A throne at her far right end sat regally. On the other side, the left side, were seven chairs, six of them worn out by sitting recently? The one that wasn't weathered and dusty from no use was the one facing the throne directly.

She paced to it, her hand stroking the red silk with two of her fingers. When her finger left the chair, she looked at it, not grimacing at the dust, but remembering things.

What she remembered was the life of _Kimiko_, the assassin who had her memories erased unwillingly. The seat Mika was before was the seat Kimiko had sat in, listening to her master giving her death issues to the innocent. The career as a killer was unlikely, as Mika deduced. She knew herself very well and she could barely look at blood. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about swords.

She went on an unconscious frenzy when she was wielding a sword. That meant there was something that happened in the past that had made her walk toward the path of blood.

However, before Mika, Rin, Bankotsu, and the girl with the green tresses could make any sudden moves; there was a clap from the other side of the room. To be exact, the clapping came from the seat of the throne.

Sitting on the throne where Mika had thought to be where the Master, Izuru would sit and talk about plans for the organization, was a boy. He was a handsome boy, his face long and his eyes a charming brown. His black hair however was a mess, his bangs almost flying around in his eyes. The funny thing was that his eyes' color bore a striking resemblance to her hazel irises. He also wore strange clothes, clothes that in the modern world would call an orange and red jacket, dark blue jeans, and a white undershirt that he wore under his jacket. Around his neck was a single, purple shard. The shard was obviously, a Shikon no Kakera.

He was no smiling. In fact, he looked very upset and his eyebrows were arched against each other. As he stood up, his eyes ran across Mika.

"I found you," he said, his gaze intensifying with every second that ticked by. "After all these years, I've found you." His eyebrows were pulled back a little, his frown softening. "At this rate, you might even grow taller than me."

Mika took a step backward, her arm raised protectively before the green haired girl and the other two. "Who are you?"

All of a sudden, the boy burst into fury. "HOW COULD YOU FORGET ME?"

The miko was stunned by his tantrum. She tried to look tough and told him to get lost. After all, he didn't seem very strong or threatening.

But the boy had other ideas. With fast steps, he quickly approached. He was just two inches before her and grasped her face with his hands. "Mika, remember! I'm your _brother_. Remember? _Hashi Hitachi_." He brought her into a hug. "Whoa, you've really grown. You used to be below my knees—"

She pushed away and flashed a mean expression. "You must have gotten the wrong person. I'm not your sister."

"But Mika—"

"I don't know how you got my name, but I have no time to listen to your nonsense. I have people to save!" With that, she turned to the girl who had brought her here and asked for the location of Sesshoumaru and the other captives. Before she could reply, a black void opened behind the boy who named himself as Hitachi.

Of course, the only person or assassin you could say Mika knew could do that, was Garando. If that green haired man had found them that meant he had brought his comrades as well. Sure enough, as he exited from the blackness, Iken, Tsurugi, and Honou emerged. Iken put his arm around Hitachi's shoulder, as if they were great friends.

"Dude, I totally understand. If I had a sister and she forgot me, I'd be fuming. Now, let's have that Shikon no Kakera. She's not "going" back with you anyway—"

Hitachi had other ideas. He shoved off his arm and brought a swift kick to his chin. Shocked for the third time, (not with electricity), he fell backwards as Hitachi leaped before Mika. He was taller than her, so she was just staring at his back. Somehow, she had a feeling that his back was quite wide.

"Heck no." He grasped the Kakera with his right hand. "I'm taking this."

The static built around in mini circles around Iken. As he stroked the bottom of his chin where a bruise was forming, he growled menacingly at Hitachi. "Hey, that wasn't part of the deal!"

Mika was about to protest and say that she didn't need his help but he went ahead acting cool. "Well too bad. Your deal just expired."

He spun around on his heel, his arm thrown onto Mika's shoulder. He urged her in the opposite direction where the assassins were and told her that her friends were in there. With no other choice than to accept this strange man's words, Mika headed off into a room with the two girls and Bankotsu, still floating, following close by.

The four assassins, with the absence of Ayumu, glared at Hitachi, who was panicking. Unlike Mika, who had some sort of spiritual power to an extent, he was a human being. Just a regular human being who managed to catch a highly trained killer off guard; so how in the world is he going to defend himself?

Now, at the perfect moment, a sound of hissing from white snakes came from nowhere. Another kick, the shoe belonging to a feminine foot, was shoved into the skull of Tsurugi's. Garando, who had barely enough time to glance around for their new opponent, was knocked out by a bite on his neck. As two of the assassins plummeted, Honou surrounded herself with flames, successfully defending herself against the snakes.

The smell of burnt serpents filled the air. Yukuro grimaced as she landed next to Hitachi. "I can't believe you killed Aima, Aiko, and Aika! You'll pay for that!" She thrust a finger at Honou and then winced in pain when a noise of a bone crack was heard. "OUCH… I cracked my index finger…"

~O~O~O~O~O~

Even with his puny human ears, Sesshoumaru could hear the light footsteps. He immediately identified them as Mika's, because he just knew it was her. Of all of the people he knew that would come after, sadly, would only be her. In the depth of his cold heart, he knew that she had a big spot for him. Because of that, she would go into the Underworld, just as he had for her.

_But she is a weak, fragile human._ That was the truth.

"Sesshoumaru!"

_Maybe she isn't_, he considered thinking. He heard her approach him and felt her warm fingers against his cheek. There was a deep desire in him that wanted her to keep those fingers on his cold cheek. "Why did you come here?"

A green light swirled around the cage bars and removed them from sight. Mika soon had her arms thrown across his neck in joy. She held him tight and when she let go, he could see faintly that there were a few teardrops trickling down her face. "I owed you, remember?" she replied.

Without a word, he faced the green haired girl, who raised a hand in the air. She flickered her hand, the layers of her flamboyant kimono showing as she spun around and around, like a never-stopping spinning circle. When she began to slow down, Sesshoumaru and Mika discovered that their hands had begun to fade, gradually. Soon, they were dispersing into thin air, joining the billions of invisible particles.

Outside of the room they were in, Hitachi and Yukuro vanished as well, leaving without a trace of their existence. The only thing that was left was the confounded faces of their attackers.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The green maiden transported them through a world of white, sky blue, and black all at once. Supernovas, black holes, something that couldn't be explained happened within the short seconds that took them to arrive miles away from the temple. They landed on top of plants that seemed to be flowers of all sorts. They tickled their ankles as the green girl made a flashy appearance of the wind and leaves.

She was the same as before, no emotion, and no rewarding smile to her saver, who was Mika. However, when the silence was extended beyond a few minutes, she spoke.

"I am Midorigami, goddess of green and orchids. I am forever grateful to you, my savior from that dreadful place. I wish to offer you a free wish, as an example of my gratitude," she said, her voice rolling along the words pleasantly. She bowed before Mika and did not stand up until Mika responded.

The miko thought hard about what to wish, but she really didn't have anything she wanted. She already had friends, such as Yukuro and others, and there was also a child coming along. Other than those horrifying nightmares, there was nothing at all. So she said: "No thank you, but I am already content with what I have."

The goddess was stunned. She stood back up, the whites of her eyes seemingly burning with stubbornness. "I refuse to go without presenting you a gift." Then she loosened her slender eyebrows. "Very well, I shall select your gift."

Mika earnestly waved her hands in disagreement. "Uh no, really, I'm fine without a gift!" She faced Sesshoumaru, who looked ironically innocent in terms of appearance. "What do I do?" she whispered.

But Sesshoumaru only turned away, which meant he did not want to get involved. Mika grimaced and glanced back at the goddess, whose attention was focused Tenesiga. "Your blade… may I borrow it?"

Hesitation was the reaction he gave to the goddess. _Why should I, Sesshoumaru, lend you my blade?_ There wasn't an obligation. It wasn't like he had a debt to her. In fact, his hand was itching to draw out the blade and kill the girl. Or was he? Maybe letting her borrow Tenesiga isn't such a big deal. His hand flew to Tenesiga, his black eyes studying to frozen maiden.

As if he were building suspense, the metal was being drawn out with seconds dragged along. The gleam of the blade radiated as usual, but with a darker touch to it. When it was fully out of its sheath, he took two, then three, and finally the last fourth step. He extended his hand toward the girl, his arm also ready to retract and cut off her head if she tried anything funny.

However, the girl had no intention of harming the party. She took the sword and then put the cold weapon to the back of her head. For that instant, everyone thought she was going to lop off her own head and give it to Mika as a present. It was common knowledge that heads of gods and goddess were worth much. But when the sword cut her breath-taking, silky green tresses, it seemed that myths were just fairytales after all.

The green hair she had so willingly separated twisted into knots; this way, and that way, like how a princess sews clothes to fit her husband and others as a hobby. The rapidness of how the hairs combined and broke away increased within time. It wasn't long before you could hardly see the motion of the hairs.

Then, the finished product; a transparent, thin, white gossamer fabric that resembled a scarf, yet it wasn't a scarf. To the goddess, it was more than that as she returned the blade and approached Mika. She handed to her gently, her hands folding over hers.

"This fabric will shield you from fire, arrows, and blunt objects. It will tear from edges like your friend's sword, but if you speak "mamoritai", this will become a blanket and embrace you with warmth. If you speak it again, it will turn into a kimono which you can wear, and if you repeat the word one more time, it will return to being a long scarf." The tips of her mouth were upturned when Mika's eyes widened at her present.

"Now then, what color do you like? I know as well as you do that you must not be satisfied with white."

Mika shrugged. "I like… the color of cherry blossoms. That'll work for me."

Her eyes, even without the help of comforting irises, showed appreciation. "Very well." She waved a hand over the gift. As her kimono sleeve brushed past its surface, the peachy color of sakura began to paint over the fabric.

"…Ah! Thank you! This is so beautiful," Mika exclaimed, stroking against the scarf. "Now I have something to tie my hair!"

The girl continued to smile for a few more seconds and then it faded. "Farewell, Mika. I hope you do not suffer the same _fate_, as I."

Mika's head whipped around to glance at the maiden. "What do you mean?"

But only the charred bones of a human greeted her.

Her eyes widened in response to the absence of the girl's voice. Mika almost let the slippery thing from her hands float away in the wind from shock. Her legs felt heavy, her head dizzy. "Midori…gami?" Mika's foot took one step forward, and then, after some more silence, she became a stone figure.

No one could remove her from her spot; the cries of her friends, the sighs that Bankotsu and Kohaku gave when they arrived too late from the last of the green magic, not even Sesshoumaru. It was only when there was sharp pain running across her entire body like a scar, did she choose to act. The act was, of course, a scream.

Collapsing to her knees, feeling the blood ooze down her legs to her ankles was beyond disgusting. She wanted to dig into the ground and rip out the grass to wipe the red fluid surging out from within. Also at the same time, she wanted to run away from embarrassment and from pain, to a haven where that pain didn't exist. There were so many thoughts, so much things going into her mind, she couldn't think.

She felt the warm embrace of the man who used to be so prideful. His black hair covered her eyes, his hand gripping her tightly. She heard Yukuro's panicking voice, the hurried footsteps she made as she paced to and fro. Sounds that seemed to be Bankotsu's curious voice seemed so far away. Hitachi was busy shoving his question in everyone's face for answers.

Where was she now? She couldn't tell. Was it daylight already? Her eyes were shut.

Where was she?

Where was she, someone tell her!

"It's going to be fine, right? Fine, yes, fine, FINE, it's going to be fine!" Yukuro continued to tell herself.

"Is she sick or something? Whoa, that's a lot of blood," Bankotsu commented.

In the corner of her blackening sight, she could see Rin standing without a word, her eyes focused on the trail of blood she was leaving.

"What's going on? Sesshoumaru, you know right?" Yukuro pleaded, chasing after the man walking away with Mika in his arms.

Mika however, had lost consciousness by the time she heard him utter the beginning of his sentence.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The blood was still overflowing. She could tell as her hand slipped down to her leg. It wasn't stopping and neither was this ache in the lower body. She winced as she forced her eyes open. There wasn't much to see, as her eyes refused to cooperate and let her glance around with 20/20 vision. The trees were blurry and so were the people following Sesshoumaru blindly. Like Yukuro and Kohaku for example.

Mika tried to open her mouth, but nothing came out. She wanted to ask Sesshoumaru where they were going and what was happening. However, as the ache grew more intense within each second, she started to come to her own personal conclusion. That she might be almost ready for labor.

For childbirth, that is. Of course; that was so simple, so obvious even to a daiyoukai who knew absolutely nothing about how human life worked. It was a natural thing, but why so soon? As she pondered, the pain dulling when she concentrated on this question, words that had been spoken by a woman with her silver hair pulled up into a ponytail were rerun in her mind. Who was it that had told Sesshoumaru and Mika that "it was coming in three months"?

She thought harder, still aware that the blood was now flooding out faster. She remembered something important… oh yes, that woman was Sesshoumaru's mother! How did she know? Well, she had given life to Sesshoumaru when he was born.

"Mika, it's going to be okay! We're heading to the mountains where this herb is growing! It should stop the pain for three more hours at least, so hang on," Yukuro shouted from Mika's left.

Immediately, the thoughts were pushed away as the pain resurfaced to her mind.

The miko went limp again as they raced through the trees and into a forsaken mountain.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Something hard and bumpy was beneath her. It was uncomfortable bedding, but as she rose, she felt that something other than rocks were supporting her. The gift Midorigami had given her before her sudden death seemed to slither out as she sat up. It had been soaked with her blood, but when Mika's fingers stroked the sides, it faded as if water had washed it away. The gossamer scarf was truly, worthy of a god's touch.

Mika felt lonely as she thought of Midorigami. She wondered how life would've been if she survived and told Mika her past, what she thought of her future, what her view of herself was, and if they could have become friends. She imagined the goddess slender and tall, just as she saw her, her soft green hair cut short.

The interrupting words by Sesshoumaru cut into her thoughts.

"Do you feel anything?" he asked, towering over her as usual. Mika shook her head.

"Where are Yukuro and Kohaku? Weren't they beside us a while ago?"

Sesshoumaru sat down, his gaze wandering beyond her. "They're looking for more herbs to numb the pain."

"_They're_ coming, aren't they," she murmured. "I wonder how they would look."

"Why do you care?" he asked.

Mika rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe he was going to be a father and didn't even have a single thought about who the child was going to resemble. "Aren't you curious to know whether he looks like you or me?"

"Why a he?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"You want a girl?"

"I said I didn't care," he repeated.

"Well, whether it is a he or not, you're hoping it looks like you, right?"

"It doesn't have to. As long as it doesn't inherit your brains, I don't mind if they're mutant babies or something," he said. There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"Are you saying you don't want him to be smart?"

"No, I'm saying you're dumb and we don't want him to be dumb either."

Mika couldn't help but smile. She had never heard him say "we" in the terms of him and her together. It disappeared when Mika thought of a question she thought she'd never ask.

"Say Sesshoumaru, you know I'm glad I met you. But are you glad you met me?"

"No," he said swiftly. "I wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for you."

The miko felt a little bit down. _I guess we still need some improvement in this relationship. _"We'll see about that. I'll have you know, I'm excellent with children."

Sesshoumaru's eyes ran over her. "You're not afraid?"

"Why should I be? It's not like I'm going to die, right? There are lots of women who give birth to children all the time. If they can survive it, so can I." She thrust a fist at her chest. "Trust in me, I'm sturdy."

Again, the silent game was being played. As usual, Sesshoumaru was leading by a thousand points with his solemn face and his closed mouth. Mika's hopeful expression was wiped away. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

"You'll die, for sure."

Yes, and he had to say things so bluntly. That was what Mika felt right after he had said such a rude thing. Without a moment to think about the wording of the sentence, without a sense of consideration for how she would feel. Not that he ever thought about how his companions felt when he said things like that.

Mika scowled and crawled beside him, slowly like a baby learning how to move. She couldn't stand up, for she was fearful of the outcome. What if the numbness would vanish if she stood up?

"How do _you_ know? You're not a midwife or something."

Sesshoumaru's eyebrows arched slightly. He was clearly agitated. "How long do you think I've lived?"

The miko was also irritated. He was very good at dodging her questions with his own set of questions. She wanted answers, now! "I don't know."

"Well, let me tell you, I'm much more knowledgeable than you. So you might as well take my advice."

Mika flashed him a look of cleverness. "Yes, "you're going to die for sure" is great advice. Now I'm really scared."

"You don't look like it. Your face tells me you think giving birth to a half-breed is a walk in the forest."

"It is, isn't it? Aside from pain that explodes within you every second?"

"No, it's worse than that. You'll see the light right after the thing comes out."

Mika's eyes widened until they were the size of a hen's white eggs. "A life is not a _thing_, Sesshoumaru."

"Don't lecture me, you stupid miko."

"You're stupid," she snapped. "And you know what else? Right now, you're not the great Sesshoumaru! You're a weak human, got it? We're on even terms!"

"Fighting already?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes did not avert from where he was staring, which the subject of interest was the moonless sky. Mika did, however, her lips refusing to turn into a smile even when Yukuro had returned. Next to the snake youkai was Kohaku, who was rubbing his eyes from exhaustion.

"We are not fighting, we are discussing," Mika explained. "There's a difference."

"To me, you look like the perfect couple. We couldn't find any though," Yukuro said, her face turning grim. "You'll have to live through it for a few more hours. We'll keep searching though."

Mika shrugged. She didn't care. She faced Sesshoumaru again. Apparently, if she died, he'd probably eat the infants.

So in defiance to all he said, she stuck out her tongue and returned to her rocky bed.

As she tried to close her eyes and ignore the pain that was starting to emerge, her thoughts wandered to a section where her feelings for Sesshoumaru lay. She began to paint out the dream she was going to have to stay asleep, when all of a sudden, she saw his shadow overhead. She sat back up.

"What" was what she was going to say, but did she get to say it?


	69. Episode 69, Sayonara, Mika

Episode 76: _Sayonara, Mika_

The night was still young when Mika saw Sesshoumaru's shadow above her. The stars were already twinkling, but today, they seemed to look sad. But to Mika, she didn't know if the stars were out or not, because in seconds, Sesshoumaru had hauled her over his shoulder and left the campsite with the fire still blazing out. He strolled to a grassy hill with the trees behind them growing smaller and smaller within the distance.

At last, when he arrived at their destination, he dumped her onto the ground. What was he doing? Was he going to kill her because she went too far?

Mika glanced up, fully aware that her entire body was aching with agony but she dared not show it. She knew he was mad and if she made a big show of the pain she was having, who knows what he could do? Her hazel-like eyes met his.

"What… is the matter with you?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

He scowled and sat down beside her. "You're really stubborn, aren't you? Are all the shrine maidens like you?"

Mika shrugged. "What do you mean stubborn? There are lots of people who won't even bother to argue with you."

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Never mind."

"So why did you bring me here if you don't have anything to say?"

He didn't reply for some time. He seemed to looking for a way to express what he felt in a way that wouldn't damage his little pride he had left. Finally, he realized there was no other way around. Mika waited patiently as he faced her, emotionless as always.

"I just felt like being with you alone. That's all there is to it. Don't get the wrong idea."

Her eyes averted to the floor and then her head turned to her side of the grass hill. "I know. I won't."

Time slid by like a snail as they sat there on the hill, doing nothing, saying nothing. Sometimes, when Mika looked up toward to the sky, she would remember something that she wanted him to know, but then she would reconsider and look back down. Crickets were the only noise that was made, chattering away about the day they had.

Eventually, Mika restarted the conversation. "Hey, you said I'd die right away, when I give birth, didn't you?"

"You're finally taking this seriously," he said, almost with a tone that sounded like worry.

"If I died, would you be sad or happy?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened. Humans always asked the most difficult questions. Questions that made him speak honesty, even if he was against it all the way. As the silence lingered between them, he recalled the time when Rin asked the same thing. He had responded by saying "don't be foolish" but… in the end, he knew humans were easy to get attached to. It was living beings' instinct called sentiments that always made people feel this way.

"I don't know. You want to bet?" he said sarcastically.

"No thank you, I'm not in the mood. I just…"

All of a sudden, he heard a sound. It resembled crying. It was coming from Mika, when he turned to see what was wrong. A glimmer of light trailed down her cheek and in that instant, Sesshoumaru could tell she was upset. But he didn't understand what she was weeping about. He didn't say anything particularly mean or disturbing. He scooted an inch closer, unwillingly.

She was blubbering and stuttering as she tried to explain. Her words made no sense and she kept shivering, even though it was a warm night.

"Why can't you just say yes? I know you're a daiyoukai and I'm just a random girl but… why did things have to turn out like this? I don't want to be a mother yet… I wanted to do so many things… To die is like throwing away all my dreams!"

Her fingers clutched the grass. "I wanted to find out who my mother and father was. Why that boy Hitachi called me his sister, why I was even an assassin in the first place. I wanted to show you how much I cared for you and that… I…"

The tears came out rapidly at full speed now. Her black hair stuck to her face as she messily wiped her tears away. She nudged herself into Sesshoumaru's chest and wrapped her arms around him.

"I don't want to leave you!" She buried her face into his kimono and then released when she realized what she was doing. She glanced at her hands and then looked up at him. "Sesshoumaru… why me?"

"How should I know," he whispered.

"But…" Her head bent and she looked upon the floor again. "All along, I've been so scared, so cowardly and selfish. When I feel like my execution, the day of my death is coming the next day, I feel like I have accomplished nothing…!"

"You rescued me," he added in for her.

Her head shot back up. "You don't even care, do you?" In fury, but the tears still existent on her face, she raised a hand to slap him. She was going to bring those fingers down when her wrist was caught by his.

Sesshoumaru had his hand clasped around her wrist, suspending the stinging pain that was to come. But even as a human, he had more strength than her. No matter how much she resisted and pushed her hand against his fingers, her wrist wouldn't budge. Eventually, her wrist began to turn red from his grasp. When her energy left her wrist, he let go and leaned in close enough for her to examine his eyes.

"Don't be sad," Sesshoumaru said. "If you want… I'll be there next to you."

"You liar," she exclaimed. "Humans are nothing but trash to you, aren't they? You don't care, you don't care… I don't believe you!"

Then, he did something that did make her believe.

Slowly, but surely, his hand rose to her chin and held it. He leaned in until they were nose to nose and then, his lips touched hers. Just lightly, just for a few seconds, just enough for her to pull back in surprise.

When he watched her react in such way, he blinked and his fingers left her chin. There was nothing to say about the first and last kiss they would have.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The morning ray from the star that was closest to Earth was no longer welcoming. In fact, it was like seeing day after fifty five years in prison. When Mika awoke on the hill where she was sitting with Sesshoumaru yesterday night, the sharp pain struck her. Screaming, she clutched her stomach and curled to a fetal position. She shut her eyes, her feet numbing and her blood rushing to one source in her body.

Coming to her rescue was Yukuro, who had Kohaku chasing after her. They were all frightened at the outcomes laid out before them, but they still cared. Mika forced herself to smile, even with this increasing pain.

"T-The herbs are losing effect! Kohaku, go find a village and ask for a midwife or something! Hurry!"

Wavering about what to do, he made an excuse for his uncertainness. "What if they ask about the child being a half-breed?"

"WHO CARES? SHE'S GOING TO _DIE_ AT THIS RATE!" Yukuro barked.

Shaking his head and clutching his hands into fists, Kohaku made his way into the forests. He sprinted across brooks and logs that fell onto the little imitations of rivers. He leaped over squirrels scurrying over in his direction, sometimes chipmunks, his mind set on getting to a village. Where had he last seen one? Oh yes, somewhere to his west.

He looked up to the sky and tried to remember what Sango had told him about directions. The sun rose in the east and settled down in the west. Sunrise had just passed three hours ago, which made the current time 8:00 AM. Since it had made its debut earlier that meant the sun was closer to the east then the west. The sun that was starting to inch its way to the center of the blue was to his right. That meant the village was to his left.

Making a swift turn, he pounded harder on the floor with his black boots as he raced through the lands. Soon, the shadowy outline of gates appeared before him. He stuck his scythe to his back and made a giant jump down the hill to save time. As he tumbled to his feet, he quickly got back up and slammed his fist on the wooden gates.

A response was given from the other side as a responding knock. Kohaku wiped away a sweaty part from his forehead, smudging some dirt and stepped back as the gate was opened enough for an overweight man in his thirties to take a peek at him.

"What do you want kid—"

"Please, can you send me a midwife? There's a girl who's going to give birth and, and—!" He bit his tongue on the second "and" and brought a hand up to his mouth to check for blood. The man who was behind the doors nodded and waved a hand to some people Kohaku couldn't see.

"Wait here for a minute. We're going to get one of our best midwives and a horse." With that said, he ran off into the village.

True to his word, a busy looking woman about the same age as the man who greeted Kohaku was sprinting beside him as they raced back into the woods. He knew every crook and nanny, despite racing through the woods at such speed before. It must have been the adrenaline fueling him from panic.

Suddenly, when they appeared at the same trickle of water again, he felt his heart beat even faster. He had forgotten where they were. He spun around and found the trio still catching up to him. There was still time before they were fully right beside him. He pulled his hands up to his mouth and began to yell Yukuro's name.

There was an immediate reply. He yelled a request for her to continue shouting so he could follow the source of her voice. She did so, and with her constant voice, the four found the grassy hill where Mika was laid across on.

The poor miko was currently perspiring buckets. Her face had become pale and her lips almost alike to the hue of her cheeks. Her eyes were shut and the blood that Yukuro had been attempting to stop for so long was still rushing.

"Are they here?" she spat out, her crimson stained hands trembling.

"Yes, they're here. Let's get out of their way," Kohaku suggested, tugging at her hand and leading her back to the trees while the midwife, her apprentice, and the man that was at the gate stumbled as they paced down to Mika, their faces confident with experience.

The apprentice, who was a young lady around the age of fourteen at most, had a basin of warm water in her hands. Kohaku pondered about the condition of that water. From their running, it must have cooled down by now.

The apprentice sat the basin down and rolled up the midwife's and her sleeves as they went to work. Yukuro couldn't bear hear Mika's cries so she urged Kohaku to move back into the forest where Mika would be inaudible.

Minutes lagged by. The snake youkai asked Kohaku about Sesshoumaru's whereabouts. The youkai taijiya responded with a "I'm not sure where he is".

As if on cue, Sesshoumaru came into view. Behind him was a tiny version of Mika, who was hiding behind his balloon pants. Her fingers were grappled onto the white fabric tightly, her eyes showing no intent of letting go.

"Did you find one?" he asked right away.

Kohaku brushed another sweat bead from his face. "Yes. They're helping her right now." He exhaled and relayed a question he had been dying to ask. "D-Do you think she'll be okay?"

"No," Sesshoumaru said bluntly. He showed no hope for the situation.

Yukuro stood up from the rock beside the trunk of the tree she had been resting against. She curled her bloodied fingers into balls. "You-you can't give up! That is your child that is trying to come out!"

At once, the little girl spoke up, her eyes widening and turning golden. She released her hold of Sesshoumaru's pants and walked up to Yukuro. She glared at her with those lifeless and creepy windows. "_We are coming. We will come. __**We three**__ are coming."_

The snake youkai was flabbergasted. What in heaven's name was this girl talking about? She shook her head side to side about three times and strengthened her resolve. "What three? What are you mentioning?"

The mirror image of Mika began to rock back and forth on her toes. She began to speak nonsense sentences, like "my host, my host" and then her voice went high and low again, "no, three of us belong here, three". It was like she was being possessed by something, something other than the world we see. Perhaps… the _nonliving_?

Then she screamed and clutched her head. When her screeching stopped, her arms hung loose and limp. She collapsed to her knees and started to chuckle. First quietly, then gradually louder and louder until she was practically cackling!

"Papa! I've returned!" She closed her eyes and held her stomach. "Papa! Papa… hahahahahahaha!" She stood back up and studied her surroundings. She seemed confused. "Papa? Papa! Where are you?"

Again, her voice changed and became high again. "No, Daddy, wait!" She lunged herself onto Sesshoumaru's pants. "Don't let Mommy die! Don't let her die!"

Her eyes reverted back to a dull golden. "Sorry, you're not my Papa, no, mistake—"

Kohaku tapped Yukuro's shoulder. "What's going on?"

The midwife came running into the scene, her mouth upturned into a smile and her eyes sparkling with victory. Her hands were outstretched and her face equally wet with sweat.

"The _babies_ have been born!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

After a lot of "oohing" and "ahhing" from Yukuro and Kohaku, the three villagers suggested that they move the mother to their hut for her to rest. They explained that after all the strain the labor had given her; she must have been exhausted and needed sleep. So they reluctantly stepped aside and followed them closely back to the village.

Kyoko, the little girl who had been spouting out such crazy things had left a trail of footprints leading to where Bankotsu, Hitachi, and Jiro were staying somewhere else in the forest, so she was not present. Sesshoumaru was in the very back of everyone, his face looking so depressing. It was as if he didn't want them to be born, which was a very reasonable thing to think about.

Just as he said, the babies would cost Mika's life. But Mika was just asleep and she was breathing perfectly normal, so everything would be fine, right?

~O~O~O~O~O~

Clouds had moved in by the time the villagers left the hut where they laid Mika down on a mattress. Beside her was Sesshoumaru, because he had made such an abrupt promise the day before. It wasn't long before she awoke from the sounds of the crying babies in the nearby hut.

She turned to her left to face Sesshoumaru. A grin worked up onto her face, though it was very weak. "Sesshoumaru… you didn't break your promise."

He lowered his eyelashes. "I didn't promise anything."

She nodded slowly once. "Yes you did. Where's the kid?"

The daiyoukai, who was now a human pointed to the next hut with his chin. "There are three."

Mika seemed pretty proud of herself, despite her tired tone and looks. "Aren't you glad of me? I gave birth to three beautiful babies! I'll have to see them soon…" She coughed and closed her eyes.

Sesshoumaru examined her face. He had never noticed, but her eyebrows were always thicker than they were supposed to be and slightly furrowed, like disdain or determination. Her lips were never redder than the rogue women put on. And her fair skin was, well, fair. He looked away, feeling awkward for studying her appearance so hard now that she was vulnerable for scrutinizing.

Then, she spoke, reopening her eyes. Her usual hazel-like orbs were now a plain brown, which presented further evidence that she was indeed _tired_. "Do you want to know what my dream was?"

"Why not?" Sesshoumaru said. "You might just as well spit everything out."

"Okay then, I'll tell you. Only once though okay?" She paused to catch her breath and then continued. "Don't laugh."

"Go on," he said.

"Have you heard of the western lands? Not the one here in Japan. I heard there is another world out there… the western people call it the "New World"." Her eyes shimmered with the essence of imagination. "The very moment I heard those people say "New World", I wanted to go to those lands and see what was there. Are there people like us? Do they speak the same language? What kind of foods do they eat? What kind of animals?

"I honestly believed I could go there. When I met you, that dream was recreated."

Sesshoumaru cocked his head to the side. "Why?"

"I wanted to go there with you. With everyone I met." She licked her dry lips and continued on. "Before I met everyone, I was all alone in the world. I can confirm that from the nightmares and what Ayumu showed me. I was a bird, longing for the empty land instead the sky."

"Oh," he responded.

"Sesshoumaru," she began, glancing up at him. "I want to ask you something. Can you hold my hand?"

He looked somewhat stunned. Was there a glint of anxiety in those eyes of his? "Are you feeling sleepy?"

"No, no. I'm fine. I just... want to feel the hand of the _person I love more than anything else in the world_."

_You love me, huh? You shouldn't_, he thought. But he still grabbed her hand and coiled his fingers around hers.

Mika thought his complexion was very smooth. "I always thought your hand was rough. I guess I never noticed." Her smile widened as she held his hand. "It's very warm too. I can somewhat understand what Bankotsu said about my hand being like home. When you're cold, anything like this is heaven… I wonder if that's how I'll feel when I die."

Sesshoumaru gripped her hand tighter. "You're not dying."

"You said I would," she murmured. Her voice was fading…

"Mika?"

"Huh…? It's black… Sesshoumaru, are you still there?"

"I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

"I must be imagining things. Maybe the blood is just rushing into my head."

But from how Mika's eyes started to tear up and herself not aware of it, Sesshoumaru knew. The miko was blind. The effects of the labor were starting to take place. She was losing to the battle between the pallbearers and the thin ray of life held before her.

"Say Sesshoumaru," Mika said, her eyes still open and not blinking. "We haven't decided on a name for the children."

"Mm," he replied. He tried to recall how they looked like. Their pale faces, the white hair and ears, and their huge golden eyes. Their chubby hands and feet that belonged to a boy and two girls. "We would need one boy name and two girl names, wouldn't we?"

"You don't sound enthusiastic…" Another cough and the splatter of blood onto his hand. He winced and then began to quaver. "How about…" Mika started to breathe deeply. "How about… Maro… for the boy…"

Her hand went dead in his hand. Mika gave a cry, her shoulder twitching time to time.

"W-What? I can't feel… my hand…!"

"So, the boy is Maro, right?"

Mika seemed to forget about the pain and went on. "Yeah… the older girl Fuki, the younger… Saki… Sesshoumaru… Sesshoumaru, are you still there?"

His hand kept on squeezing her fingers even though she didn't feel it. He told her "yes", but Mika continued to ask for him. Was she deaf now? What was next?

"Sesshoumaru… even though you might have left… I want you to forgive me for the things I said before… you'd forgive right? Remember…? When you said I was being selfish and all…"

The daiyoukai felt a pulse through his body. A surge of anger, just like the one he felt when Kagura so sorrowfully departed. Death was so unfair… or maybe it just felt like that when he had Tenesiga in his sash! _Tenesiga…_ No, Tenesiga couldn't save Mika.

He gazed at Mika once more, watching her voice croak and disappear. But her lips kept moving, forming a soundless noise that no longer worked with her throat. She was trying to tell him something, but he couldn't read lips. When her lips shaped an "O", the pallbearers appeared before him. The chains, rusty and black swirled around her entire body. The surroundings became black as they went to work sawing the chains.

He sat there, his hand still clutching hers, his eyes neither sad nor shocked. He watched them break her soul from the body, but still refusing to give up. Finally, the pallbearers, blue and red, gave up and dragged the chained soul away to a white opening in all the blackness.

Then they vanished and the world became as it was before.

Mika's brown eyes open and now dry, were staring at the ceiling. Trailing down her cheeks were the final tears that told everything, about how she suffered, trying to hear Sesshoumaru but heard nothing. Her hair no longer shone with luster and the ribbon that Midroigami had given her began to fade into white again.

His heart felt heavy, just as it did when Rin was taken away and Kagura gave him that distant smile. Why did it feel heavy? Why did he care?

He chuckled. "Is this your way of teaching me compassion, father?"

The grumbling clouds answered with the patter of rain outside. Sesshoumaru set down Mika's hand and noticed that the babies' weeping had stopped. Perhaps they knew that the person that handed them life was gone.

Dead. Mika was dead.

The single red thread that connected her to the World of Living had been severed.

Sesshoumaru's ironic smirk was wiped away when he looked at her face. He was so useless at that moment, wasn't he? He could've drawn out that blade called Tenesiga of his and saved her right there and then. But she would've still been feeling the agony of being deaf and blind. She would not have been able to walk. She would be a disabled person.

And yet, he kept on going back to that moment when she kept trying to speak when she had no voice. He continued to rerun that scene in his mind, the emotions he felt when her hand lost its heat, lost its energy. He started to think about the possibilities, and how to revive her and all the things a person feels when one is lost.

Death. She was dead.

Mika… the girl who smiled for him even when she was angry and stomping her foot.

How could she leave him without a "goodbye"?

He gawked at her one last time before emerging out into the rain. He let the fluids shower him with their stinging, icy droplets. Maybe just for today, he'll act gloomy. He'll be uncaring and just stand there.

Let the rain wash it all away.

His mouth started to frown. He shut his eyes and if you squinted real hard…

Perhaps he was crying.

~O~O~O~O~O~

A spark of lighting. A bolt raced down onto the land and destroyed the very hut that the babies were in. Sesshoumaru spun around, his eyes widening with shock, his heart pounding hard. His eyes searched for the source and then came the frustration.

Slimy yet shiny scales covered the body of a huge serpent the size of a New York building if you were to compare. Its eyes were just as wicked as its cousins, red, sometimes boiling orange when it turned at a certain angle. Its claws and fangs were a dark red, penetrating the sense of security this puny human village had. Those very same humans were screaming then, scared of what this beast was doing.

Hovering ahead of them was their leader. But he wasn't a dragon; it was a man wearing a flamboyant kimono, decorated with green dragons attacking a great white dog.

Sesshoumaru's eyes flashed annoyance. The pulse that had occurred earlier beat through his entire body again. Again, again, and again it went, pounding faster each time he blinked while glaring at the handsome man floating above the scene. How dare he wear such clothing? How dare he mock victory of the Great Dogs?

He drew out Tenesiga and growled at the man. Surprisingly, there was a growl. He blinked shockingly and gawked at his body.

Instead of black hair, his locks became silver white. His claws returning, the purple marks and the crescent moon appearing on his forehead once more. His tail claimed its rightful place on his right shoulder. He felt grander and stronger as the yoki flowed into his body pleasantly. How nice it felt to be within power again. But enough of that, he had to get to the bottom of this and kill these ugly serpents.

He showed his fangs at the man again, the whites of his eyes turning red. His tail coiled around his neck and his hair around his legs and arm. Within minutes, he revealed his true and horrifying form, a daiyoukai _inu_!

The people below him cried out in revelation. "What is that", he heard them say. "A youkai? A bakemono? Possibly a vengeful ghost!"

Sesshoumaru had no care for what those humans thought of him. His only aim was those dragons, yet they were so far away. If only he had his left arm too…

Finally, after what seemed like the worst five minutes of his life, he reached the man in the sky. But he had forgotten to mask his hideously large amount of yoki. That gave his position away and the man had transformed into a celestial dragon in no time. When noticed, it was too late. The dragon had already coiled his body around his stomach and had avoided a fatal bite from Sesshoumaru's fangs by ducking lower than Sesshoumaru could bend. Dang their flexibility was what he was feeling as the scales scraped at his skin.

The other dragons joined their jaws wide open for the kill. They attempted to tear at his rough hide of fur, but only succeeded annoying him. But they all knew it wouldn't be long until even his thick fur would fail him. So they continued to bite, gnaw, and claw at him until a long scar running down his neck to his lower chest was created. Satisfied with such damage, the male dragon thrust his three pointy ends from his hand into his neck, ready to toss him away into the distance.

As the blood trickled and soaked his beautiful white fur, his golden eyes caught the remaining, younger and more delicate female serpent rise from the destroyed hut with a bundle in its mouth. He squinted, the pain disappearing as he discovered that the bundle where the children. The children that Mika had died for…

With renewed energy, he fought back against the dragons. He let a menacing roar from his throat erupt and devour them with his voice. He struck his only paw at the male dragon and shook as hard as he could to get the other dragon off his stomach. Then, his breath heavy and his eyesight starting to blur, he raced at the wavy outline of the flying snake carrying away the three sleeping babies.

But another bite he suffered to his foreleg, from an incoming older dragon that was to his left. Four more slashed at his face, leaving more cuts, while the smallest reinforcements tackled his stomach. He felt the force of their powerful muscles working against him… he gave up, his pride hurting again as he played with the idea of letting go of everything…

The great Dog plunged onto the floor, his eyes closed, and the blood not stopping.

The predators swarmed into a circle in the sky and left for home.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When Sesshoumaru awoke, in his humanoid form, Tenesiga on the floor, the first face he expected to see was Mika. It was just a habit, but of course, she wasn't there. Instead, in replacement, Yukuro's face was overhead; her eyes clear of anger and only of worry. She helped him sit up, her eyes glancing occasionally at his wounds. Then she asked the dreaded question.

"Is Mika okay?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes opened, only to narrow again when the memory of the girl with hazel-like eyes reentered his brain. "…You can go see for yourself."

Yukuro's hands leapt to her face. She wasn't crying; she couldn't because there just weren't enough tears in her body to express how she felt. Then she let her hands fall to her lap. "So… she's not here anymore? Why didn't you save her with your Tenesiga? Totosai said—"

"She would be suffering, living out deaf and blind. She…"

The snake youkai lowered her head. "She was like the daughter I never had… so joyful… why Mika? WHAT DID SHE DO?" she yelled, standing up. She reached for the collar of his kimono and seized it with the same amount of force as the flying dragons. "Why did you have to _kill_ her? Why couldn't you save her? Why couldn't anyone save her?" The tears traveled down her face. Her shoulders started quivering, just as Mika's shoulders did last night.

"It was hard," he admitted.

"IT WASN'T HARD FOR YOU! YOU HAVE A HEART OF ICE!" She choked on a tear and coughed a few times as she tried to find the words to express her anger. "SHE… THAT POOR GIRL LOVED YOU! YET I BET YOU DIDN'T EVEN RAISE A FINGER TO HELP HER, DID YOU?"

"She told me several times," he said. Sesshoumaru laid a hand on his cut. "I do not need repeating."

"Sesshoumaru, just…!" Yukuro swallowed a ball of saliva and brushed her tears away with the sleeve of her kimono. "Go rescue the children… please..." She fell back to her knees, almost bowing, and slammed a fist at the ground. "Those children are the only thing Mika left in this world. If you let them die…"

Sesshoumaru's tail touched her head when he walked by. "It's what I was planning."

With that said, he paced out of the village, the humans breaking away and cowering in their homes when he came by. Some even called him the "bringer of death" and some whispered painful names.

But he heard nothing, said nothing, and continued to walk. Step by step, he was inches closer to the exit. His hand, clutching Tenesiga was held tighter as he glanced up at the tall gate. He stuck the sheath carrying the blade into the dirt and rested the palm of his hand on the wooden doors. He collected the energy inside his body and congregated it in his right arm. Almost at a leisurely pace, the door gradually opened. When it was wide enough, he took another step and disappeared.

Running to the gate was Yukuro. Her eyes were still teary, but her resolve strong. She wanted revenge on those distant cousins of serpents of hers. She wanted them to die a miserable death and experience what Mika went through.

So when she was sure Sesshoumaru had transformed one last time and went off in the direction of where he smelled the scent of the offspring and dragons, she too changed shape. Her body became slim and just as long as the village path leading to the hut to the gate. Her scales were white, the horns that grew on her forehead a black hue.

She flung her tail at the ground one time. Instantly, snakes of all sizes and colors emerged from the shadows. Green snakes, garden snakes, and the snakes she commanded at will. They all looped around her body and lifted her off the ground. First a foot, then a yard, struggling under her heavy weight until she was at an angle to be launched. When they gathered enough strength, they nudged her and she was catapulted in the same direction as Sesshoumaru.

Using her scales like a snake would to move on the land, she lashed her tail around and steered until she saw the canine before her. Her blue snakes supported her from falling back onto the ground, as they flew in the cold air.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Kyoko was asleep by the time the sky had darkened, but the stars still hiding. She had rested against Hitachi's lap, her face content with her "big brother" beside her. Hitachi had his arm around her shoulder, his hand squeezing her arm just in case he needed to pull her out of danger. Adjacent to them sat Bankotsu, grim and upset at nothing in particular.

Maybe it was because he had blackened out at the time when they were at the temple. He remembered lunging at Mika and hugging her…

He shivered at the thought. He hated that girl with all his guts. If he saw her again, he was going to stay miles away from her.

Jiro was still awake. Perhaps it was because he was a nocturnal youkai. Bats, in their natural habitat, were always alert at night. From what Bankotsu could remember from what one of his smartest "brothers" had told him, they hunted at night. He gawked at him and spoke up.

"Hey, Jiro. Have you ever been anywhere outside of your home?" Not that he really cared; he was just bored and having company usually meant conversation.

The innocent yet naïve youkai shook his head. "Honestly, no. My sister is really protective of me. If I went out farther than the mountains, she would drag me back and imprison me at home for days."

"You got any parents?"

"We ate them."

Bankotsu shot him a disgusted expression. "You_ ate_ your mom and dad?"

"My sister said to. So I did."

Bankotsu scratched his head. "You sure listen to her a lot."

"She's my sister, that's why."

"And those were your parents."

"Enough about me," Jiro said. He waved a hand in the air absentmindedly. "What about you?"

"I died ten years ago. Old history man."

"Oh. So you're older than me?" He counted his fingers. "If you didn't die and kept on living, you'd be about 30 right? I'd hate to see how cranky you'd get."

"Hmm. Dunno. I never think about that stuff."

"Say, did you have a crush on anyone?"

Bankotsu's eyes rolled to the stars. Now he felt stupid. Talking to Jiro was like talking to old gossiping women. "Yeah, I guess."

Jiro scowled. "Don't tell me it's Mika."

"It'll never be Mika."

"Good, cause she's mine."

"I think Sesshoumaru already claimed her."

"Too bad. She's still mine."

"Your sister never taught you about this stuff, did she?"

Jiro shrugged. "Nope. Well then, who was this girl you liked?"

The mercenary's face turned tomato red. "Why should I tell you my personal life?"

"I told you mine."

"It was a girl."

"Duh. What was her name?"

"…_Nagato._"

"Did you ever kiss her?"

"Shut up. I'm going to sleep now—"

Jiro gave him a sly smile and opened his big wide mouth. "BANKOTSU LIKES SOMEONE!"

"HEY!" he shouted, jumping up. "That was a long time ago! She's _dead_ now!"

The bat demon looked surprised. "Did you eat her?"

Bankotsu's eyes narrowed to slits. "I _killed_ her. The entire village…" His head bent, his eyes widening at the returning memories.

"_I killed everyone… it was… fun…"_

Jiro retreated to his corner. "Okay… So it was fun…!" He gave the braided boy a weak smile. "Let's go to sleep—"

Bankotsu held up a hand and glanced at it. He seemed to be in his own world, his eyes dull like the times when Kyoko went possessed mode. "_I killed… everyone…_"


	70. Episode 71

Episode 77: Midoriko and _Kami-Sama_

The first time Sesshoumaru spoke to the young miko, it was around the time when Naraku had arisen from his hiding spot with a _kugustu_, a puppet that fooled them all. The miko happened to be there at the wrong time and wrong place. Seeing a chance to see them all in defeat once more, the Naraku puppet used its tentacle to throw her off a cliff. It was a miracle she survived the nineteen thousand feet high cliff.

The miko had fallen into a deep river, where it carried her to a lower part of the mountain. Out of curiosity, he had followed her travel, and found her disabled and wrecked up. He could remember her surprised face and the glint of hope that he would help her in her eyes.

Still flying in the sky, high in the clouds with the injuries all over his body hurting, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but gave out a short chuckle. She had tried to threaten him by "creating beads that would send him up into the sky and over the moon".

How many days did it take for her to finally realize that he was a lone canine? Three months at most, yet she continued to follow him vigorously, her smile ever evident on her face. He recalled the time when he was turned into measly dog and Mika had embraced him warmly. He remembered how she was crying when she thought he was dead.

It wasn't as if he was stranger to such care. It was just that when she died, her eyes open and the tears drying up on her face, she looked so sorrowful. So pitiful, her death so in vain… why, was how the atmosphere felt around him when her cherry lips halted motion.

Just like the time when Kagura passed away, her body dispersing into millions of white feathers, some tickling his chin as they flew away. That death was sad too especially when she smiled as if this was what she wanted along. The freedom was what she called that death.

_Then when Mika died, she gained freedom as well, didn't she?_

The clouds grumbled and made loud sounds that signaled the beginning of a storm. Sesshoumaru was still wrestling with the thoughts circling around in his brain.

_I could've granted her alternative to that freedom. I could've saved her… and she would have been able to see the West…!_

As he gritted his teeth and tossed his wet mane of dog fur that was starting to soak from the rain, he lowered his flight a few feet. He continued to fly toward the disgusting scent of the dragons, the scent of decapitating flesh and human blood. Merged in within, but very faint, there was the scent of three half-breeds.

It was hard to also take in that those three infants had half of his blood. Just how was that possible?

He shook his head and leaped in the air to decrease the gap between him and the outline of the castle ahead. It was a towering tan building, the style of the architecture mainly based on the Chinese. The red roofs were cemented together with curving tiles. The doors were made out of metal and not wood.

In the very top of the building, there was a single window. It was open, so Sesshoumaru flew in, his body transforming into a more movable size as he neared. When he was yet again in his humanoid form, he slipped right into the gap, the end of his tail slamming the window close with no alarming noise.

Then he fell to his knees, grimacing at the fact that his wounds were widening with each action he took. As he laid a hand at his cut and held it before himself to examine how much blood, he thought he saw blurry spots. He blinked and wiped the blood on his pants, then pushed against another metal door in the corner. However, it refused to budge.

Instead, the door pushed back at him and soon the hinges were broken off. As the door was torn away, he backed up to the window and growled at the enemy before him.

The dragons hissed back in response. One of them charged at him and punched his gut.

The impact from the blow blackened him out.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When he awoke, he discovered that he was bound to a wooden pole of some sort. He tried to see what was below him and what forced him to become immobile, but as far as lighting went, there were only two rows of candles before him; three in each set. They were dimly lit and everywhere else around him was shrouded in dark.

Those made the orange lights dancing around in the not too far off distance look mysterious and eerie. His golden eyes followed the lights until they illuminated the ring of a bathtub. There was one in the center, just two feet in front of him. To the sides of this bathtub, if he stayed composed and scrutinized carefully, there were similar bathtubs.

Inside of them was the boy that had been floating above the hut in the village the dragons attack. He was undressed, but the water was up to his upper chest, leaving his neck and arms exposed. His head was bent back, covered by the large shadows of the dark. In the other bathtubs, women wearing white yukatas were simmering in the lukewarm water, the lower portion of their body a long, green serpentine tail.

When he had absorbed all this information, he felt the rough but string-like substances moving around his waist. He blinked once and then found himself staring face to face with a vicious snake, its jaw open wide to greet him with its shiny fangs. He was neither fazed nor dumbfounded.

Realizing that its useless intimidation was not doing anything, it tightened its coils around Sesshoumaru and the head vanished. The young man in the bathtub turned his head to look at Sesshoumaru.

The youth had black hair over his left eye, the same hue as the shadows around them so when he turned, it looked as if he was a demon gathering souls for a ritual. There was a tattoo of a dragon on his right arm, the one facing Sesshoumaru, and his eye a bright green.

"And so the Great, Cowardly Dog awakens." A scorn worked up onto his face and he cocked his head to one side. He seemed to like acting cool and collected while at the same time showing off his good looks. "Did you have a good nap?"

Sesshoumaru flashed him a frown. "Your business for taking those three half-breeds?"

The tattooed boy shrugged. "They yours or what?" He sunk in deeper in the water. "Ah, let me guess. You've followed your father and sired a bunch of dirty half breeds, didn't you? I feel sorry for them. That's why we're going to do a favor for them and eat them."

"All you stupid dragons think about are eating. Can't do anything else," Sesshoumaru taunted.

The dragon continued to smirk. "Yup, eating is my reason for living. I mean, have you ever tasted a daiyoukai? Their flesh is soft and sweet, all the while juicy." He opened his mouth and chuckled. "Ah, I can't wait to dig my fangs into their meat. What luxury we all love, don't you agree ladies?" he asked the female serpents. They hissed back in reply.

He raised a hand to his lips. "Say, Sesshoumaru, are you in the mood for a deal?"

"That depends," the daiyoukai finally said.

"Good, cause I thought of a great deal. How about I bring out those three kids and you take your pick and we'll eat the remaining two."

Sesshoumaru's eyebrows furrowed as his considered this option. What else was he going to do? His thoughts were all in a mess and felt awfully tired. Partially the reason why he was exhausted was because he had just witnessed the death of a girl…

The room was still dark as footsteps neared the bathtubs. When a barefoot was shown in the dim light, Sesshoumaru could see it wasn't even a foot. It was a scaly tail, and the thing being coiled around by the tail was a bundle of cloth. The tail brought the bundle to the boy in the bathtub, which he took pleasure in unwrapping. When the cloths were pushed aside, there lay a pale infant, eyes shut, a tuft of white hair on its head and no ears. The baby yawned, revealing the nudges of teeth underneath his pink gums.

"Aww, you have such an adorable rascal. I'm actually thinking twice about eating it," the dragon boy joked, licking his lips with a long tongue. "So, where's the other two?"

There was nothing but silence, so Sesshoumaru deduced that communication between the dragon and the owner of the scaly tail was telepathic. When the tail moved back into the shadows and came back out again, there were two babies on its end. The concealed snake shoved the babies into the bathtub, where they yelled at the scalding water.

It wasn't painful to watch, but every time their mouths opened to let the voice within their throats erupt, the image of Mika's tears trickling down her blind eyes resurfaced in his mind. So eventually, he turned away from the scene and did his best to ignore those irritating guffaws of those dragons.

"So, which one you want to take home with you, Sesshoumaru? This girl here? Or the tiny little boy… Oh, I know, how about the middle child, the little girl with a tooth in her mouth already?" he said, taunting and slapping his hand on the marble floors. He almost knocked over a candle as his hand pounded the floor.

Sesshoumaru didn't respond. He had nothing to say, thought nothing, and couldn't choose. He just kept his head turned away, his golden eyes trying to absorb the blackness around him.

"I'm counting to five. If you're not naming any of these kids, then its dinner for me. One… two… three…"

The dragon's voice seemed to be so far away. Where was he? Why did he have to race over here? There was no meaning to this trek at all, was there? He should've just forgotten about the miko with almost hazel eyes. He should've tucked away those nostalgic memories in the back of his subconscious and never bring them out again…

"Five," the dragon said. His green eyes studied the statue-like daiyoukai bound by serpents. "Okay, in my mouth they go. Ahhh," he went, grabbing the youngest. It was the boy with his ears growing out of his head already and two canines in his mouth. His name was "Maro" as Mika had named him. Instead of fright that showed on his face however, he clapped his hands together and welcomed himself to the teeth awaiting him.

Then, as the baby boy neared the dragon's teeth, one of the female dragons in the bathtubs screamed a cry of agony. The reason for her scream was that the two female infants had crawled over to their area and took a chomp at their scales. Normally, a human's teeth would break and the person would be rolling on the floor with their teeth pulled away from their gums, but the babies were chewing the dragons' hide as if it were beef jerky.

Maro, the boy that the male dragon was about to eat, seemed to be slow-witted compared to his siblings. When the teeth touched his hair that was when he got the message that he should bite as well. So he did, his jaw closing down on the man's arm. He gnawed at it, licked the flesh, and chewed until the man stopped moving the boy to his face.

"Ooh, that tickles," the man said, chuckling. "Quite the biter, aren't you?"

Maro stopped chewing for a moment and glanced up at the man. He gave him a baby laugh, the drool that was dripping from his mouth mixing in with the bathing water. "Agoo," he cried. It must have meant "you taste like dung", because the man frowned as soon as that word came out of his mouth.

"And this is why I hate dogs. You see your kid here Sesshoumaru?" The man used his other arm and seized the boy's neck. Maro began screaming, alarming his older sister Fuki and the middle sister Saki. Sesshoumaru turned his head back to him, looking more vicious than ever.

"You've met other inu daiyoukai?" Sesshoumaru asked, obviously intrigued by this new fact.

The man shrugged. "No. Your _father, Inu no Taisho _came to me, you see." Mustering all his power in his arm, he then flung Maro onto the floor, where he went sliding across until his white head hit Sesshoumaru's foot. The snake binding the daiyoukai hissed at Maro and seized him by the collar. "I had a secret that no one in the entire world knew and he wanted to know. It was surprising how far he would go for it, considering he was such a "caring" daiyoukai and asked for a human woman's marriage."

"My father spoke of no event," Sesshoumaru said.

The dragon let the wicked smile stretch across his face again. "Why would he tell this great secret that he got in exchange for half of his domain, to his idiotic son?"

Sesshoumaru growled, feeling angry because Maro was crying in such an irritating voice and because the dragon was being very rude. His expression was of disbelief.

"Oh, didn't you ever wonder how your great, powerful father had less land than he was supposed to have? That's because he gave half of it to me and my father. Of course, I had no need of it really, until he told me there were plenty of daiyoukai to feast in his lands." He sunk under the water, his eyes shifting colors, to red and then back to green. "And you thought he was a noble father. In the end, he was as selfish as many of the small fries."

_A secret that even the Inu no Taisho was willing to kill to receive… what was it?_ A sudden desire to learn this secret stirred upon him. Would this man give to him willingly or would he have to sacrifice as well?

"This great secret is…?" Sesshoumaru began, hoping that the dragon wouldn't reject him and tell him no more.

"You want to know too, don't you? Fine, I'll tell you. But not for free. I want something back in return." He vanished from the bathtub and reappeared before him as an enormous dragon, even more menacing than the other two female serpents beside him in their true form.

His head, a great green yet black face with white horns placed on top of his forehead, was shoved so close to his, they were nose to nose. Sesshoumaru could smell his breath; feel the flames against his neck and the sizzling of his tail. "Tell me."

"_I want the corpse of __**Midoriko's reincarnation**_."

Sesshoumaru was struck dumb. Midoriko, as he could remember, was a miko who lived a while ago. She was the one, the mother of the Shikon no Tama, the curse of all the ages to come. But what did she have to do with this…?

The dragon cocked its head. "You don't understand? The one who gave birth to your half breeds… is _Midoriko's reincarnation._" The dragon transformed back into a youth, with his clothes on of course. He spread out his hands for dramatic effect. "The reincarnated soul of a mother, of a _**god**_."

The daiyoukai shook his head. _Mika… no, Midoriko was a god? _"Explain to me. What are you mumbling about?"

"The secret I relayed to your father was the way to create a god. To change a human into a god, to create the ultimate body that can withstand death and the light of the mighty. And as you can deduce, Midoriko was the first human to die and become a god. When she died and her soul suffered pain no one wants to feel, the Shikon no Tama was created. Her soul, contaminated with the dark thoughts of youkai and pure alike, split into many parts. Four became a ball, one went to heaven, the other to the underworld. The _Jigoku Shuushin_ put her soul on a wheel. When the time came, the soul was reentered back into life… to atone the sins that Midoriko committed to become a god. You see, Sesshoumaru," the dragon said, wagging a finger. "Becoming a god is not an easy task. How exactly the ritual and proceedings a person must go through to become, I have no information of."

Sesshoumaru blinked several times. The way to become a god… did his father want to become a god? But he was already in the seat of power, his strength many times above anyone else. There was no reason for him to sacrifice all that to know how to become a god and what Midoriko's true identity was. He shut his eyes and regretted trading Mika's body just to hear that.

All of a sudden, a switch went off. As he recalled, in the Temple of Righteous Prayer, there was a room. Mika had told him that there were people that had worshipped a huge, golden statue of Midoriko's person. The priests, nuns, and monks were all devoted to that symbol, that icon of a woman. Who was she? What significance did she have…?

"Absorbing it in as much as you can, are you? Is it shocking? To discover the girl's soul had already become a god. If you wanted, you could've found out a way how from the memories imprinted somewhere in her mind and—"

Sesshoumaru glared at him with green pupils and red sclera on each eye. His jaw extended, the fangs growing to a scary size, and the white fur popping out of his pores. The muscles in his arm and his legs started to expand, breaking the flesh of the snake holding him down. Soon, he grew bigger and bigger until his head hit the ceiling. His tail lashed around when it was at the end of his butt, hitting several lanterns and invisible imps that had matches in their hands. After his awakening mayhem, the room was fully lit and suddenly realized that all along, he was not alone with the dragon and his female company.

Youkai of all sizes, mostly serpent or cousins to a dragon were sitting there watching. They were either white, black, spotted with tan or golden, red or green, sometimes the rare azure and the smallest were the flashing yellow. The being had many eyes, never just three or the regular two. The least would be one single eye, but those eyes only belonged to the largest dragons.

It wasn't only the dragons and snakes that were watching. Huddled in the corner were five people wearing completely black and beside them were a few human daimyos. As he backed up, his giant white paws squashing the wooden bars holding them in place, he recognized the five individuals as the assassins of Dream and the monk Izuru.

"Oya, oya, inu-chan is mad," Izuru commented. He turned to Iken, the man who never wore a shirt, had platinum hair, and wore circular orange earrings. "What should we do, Iken?"

The tough guy pulled out his electric rod, his eyes a color that resembled the sun's brilliance, which hinted that he was using the mysterious spiritual power the assassins possessed. "Dunno. Should I break his legs, boss?"

Tsurugi stepped out, a knife already drawn out from somewhere she had hidden in her sleeve. She held the tip of the pointy blade to her tongue. Her eyes too, shone brighter silver than the usual black. "I'll help, if you give us the okay."

The red-haired woman named Honou, pushed aside the two and let their leader take a long study of her metal crimson rods. As she screamed her sentence, the gleam that was shining in Sesshoumaru's eye turned out to be the start of her flames. "I never get the spotlight anymore! Boss, let me crack a bone or two!"

Izuru put his hands out to calm them down, as if they were young children. "Now, now, settle down. Honou, you can back up _Ryuuichi_."

The fiery-tempered woman's hand shot up to her forehead in a salute. "_Hai_," she responded.

Turning to face Sesshoumaru and the dragon man named Ryuuichi, Honou started to pace toward them. Slowly, with a chilling smirk on her face.

However, before the daiyoukai dog or Ryuuichi could make a move, a flash of purple mixed with lavender struck the air. It illuminated the entire area, blinding the spectators and the fighters alike. When the light became dim enough for everyone to see again, a boy with long, slick purple hair that touched his knees was standing in the middle. In his arms, he held a body… limp and her arms dangling loose.

Sesshoumaru's limbs suddenly felt weak as soon as his eyes lay on the puppet-like corpse of Maro, Fuki, and Saki's mother. Then, livid the next second, he was about to smack Ayumu across the room when Ayumu's eyes opened to show his glossy violet eyes.

Izuru was neither flustered nor surprised. He, like many villains were always amused at unexpected events. With a hand supporting the weight of his head, he smiled at Ayumu. "So the traitor has come back. With the _item_ in hand."

Ryuuichi was also pleased. "So you kept your side of the bargain, Sesshoumaru. Glad to hear that there's at least one honest daiyoukai."

But Ayumu showed no intent of letting anyone touch Mika, let alone look at her. When Sesshoumaru glowered at Ayumu, he turned his back toward him, completely closing off his view of Mika's body. Then, the used-to-be-leader aimed his attention at Izuru.

He said, "Have you forgotten?"

Tsurugi cocked her head to one side. "Forgotten? What?"

Ayumu set Mika against the cold floor and stood back up. He held out a hand and gripped it into a fist. "My _true ability_, that is."

Garando, the silent green haired man slipped out of a black void behind Ayumu. In his hand, he held a blade just as sharp as Tsurugi's. When he thrust it at Ayumu's head, as if a weight had dropped onto him, he fell onto the floor suddenly, the blade breaking and turning out to be his metalloid hand.

"I wasn't chosen as the leader of the assassinations for nothing," he said, as a burst of spiritual energy erupted from around him. The air turned hot from friction and his hair flying upward from the winds he had summoned. Then, swiftly and as professionally a hit man could be, he pulled out a thin string with no real color from the air. As the string undid itself from invisible knots, he attached a silver needle with complicated designs decorated on it to the string.

And then, he knelt down, held Mika's neck and stuck the needle in the flesh of her throat. He pushed it in all the way until the string was no longer visible. Ayumu then proceeded to help her stand up on her feet, her head still bent and her arms still without life. Leaning in next to her ear, his arm around her shoulder, he whispered a command.

From what Sesshoumaru's ears could pick up, he heard: "_Kill everyone._" But Mika, who was a soft hearted, naïve, and clumsy girl couldn't possibly be capable of taking everyone's lives, could she?

But then, Mika's head shot up. Her shut eyes opened, revealing an inhuman pigment of golden that colored her eyes. Behind her, Ayumu wrapped her fingers around her demon blade that Totosai had crafted for her. As soon as her fingers touched them, she disappeared from where she was standing.

In an instant, all the dragons and snakes dropped unconscious. They plunged to the floor, headfirst, back facing the ceiling. The ones that came next were the assassins. They were as alert as alert could be, but Mika had surpassed the speed of light, even though her body was never capable of such speed. They gasped and fell onto the floor, one after another, starting with Tsurugi, Garando, Honou, and finally Iken.

As they were still falling, Mika reached for Ryuuichi's neck. However, a daiyoukai was not easy to kill and this secret holder did not waver or shiver from the constant stabs to his body. When Mika's sword was shoved into his back in the area where his heart was beating and came out from the other end, he simply laughed.

"_Hitogoroshi-san_," he said, addressing Ayumu as "murderer" or assassin, "do you think your puppet corpse can kill me? I'm afraid not," he reasoned as he pushed the blade out from his back. The wound closed immediately and seeing this with her lifeless eyes, Mika retreated back to Ayumu's side. Sesshoumaru stood motionless, absorbing all that had happened. The hanyou children continued to cry and gnaw at the wood.

Ayumu scowled and thrust his hand into Mika's neck. He removed the string, which seemed to be the lifeline that enabled her to move, because as soon as the needle left her flesh, her eyes shut and she returned back to the corpse she was. "Fine. I'll send you there directly."

Izuru sat there for a moment, studying the bodies of his assassins. Then he clapped his hands. "Ah, yes. I must admit, I did forget. So this is what _Midoriko _meant when she made that stupid prophecy. Three half breed children… _one more to go_. I say, things are going in her _favor_. If I don't start _playing seriously_, I might _lose_."

The assassin's eyes widened. "DO YOU THINK LIFE AND DEATH IS A GAME?"

Izuru stood up, his robes overlapping one another. "Yes, I do indeed. You see, after that despicable snake youkai took the life of my monk, I came back. Fit, well, and do you see any wounds?"

"I knew you were alive," Yukuro's voice echoed in the room as she barged in from a wall. The rubble exploded inward as the body of a white snake entered the room. "I had a feeling since the day I killed you!"

"Ah, my lovely Yukuro," Izuru said.

"It's all your fault Mika's dead, isn't it?"

The monk shrugged his shoulders and held out his index finger at her, waving it like a flag. "Tsk, tsk. You are accusing the wrong man. Why don't accuse Mika's mate?"

"Mika did nothing and neither did Sesshoumaru!"

"I thought you hated humans and dog youkai? What's with the sudden change? Let me guess, has _Midoriko_ given you a role as well?"

Yukuro transformed to her humanoid form. She charged at Izuru but was stopped when Mika's blade touched her neck. The string that Ayumu had drawn out from her neck was in there again, reviving her deathly dance.

"M-Mika? Y-You're alive? But—" She was cut off as the female miko/assassin took a hack at her upper chest. A long gash ran down from her shoulder to her waist, and it was not in the slightest pleasant.

Ayumu growled at Yukuro. "Don't interfere."

"It's you again! The purple-haired assassin! Why are you always there? Why did you take Mika and what did you do to her?"

Izuru began walking toward the three. "Let me explain. Ayumu, as you can tell, is not of this world. Neither are my other assassins. From where they came from, I cannot tell but…"

Sesshoumaru released his youkai form from exhaustion and touched Tenesiga. It had been pulsing for quite some time. "The _Underworld_…"

Izuru smiled. "You have encountered one of my creations before, haven't you? Let me see… her name was _Midorigami_, was it?"

Yukuro narrowed her eyes. "What…?"

As if Ayumu was his son, Izuru approached the purple haired boy and touched his shoulder. "Ayumu, just like Midoriko, is a _**god**__. Are you piecing it together yet?"_

The purple haired assassin flicked his arm and dragged Mika back to him. The needle exited her neck and he knocked Izuru's hand off his shoulder. He glared at all of them, the meanest looks reserved for Sesshoumaru and Izuru. "I'm nobody's creation, you hear?"

"Ayumu, don't be unreasonable. If it weren't for me—" Izuru began, but Ayumu continued on with his announcement.

"_Mika will be victorious. _Just you wait. She'll beat you, when I find a way to pull her soul back into this world!"

Resurrection, was what he was talking about was it? Or that's what Sesshoumaru assumed when Ayumu said that. _He must really adore Mika…_

And then that was that. Ayumu vanished in the same brilliant light, Ryuuichi smirking with the same smugness as Izuru, Yukuro and Sesshoumaru scowling, and the world turning bright.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Onii-chan, Onii-chan!"

The voice of the little mirror image of Kyoko awakened Bankotsu. "What is it?" he grumbled, scratching his head.

When he sat up, he got his answer. Standing behind Kyoko was a boy with purple hair… what was his name?

"Ayumu," the assassin answered, as if he could read minds. In his arms was the older version of Kyoko, arms slender, hair completely black, and her breathing absent. Bankotsu's eyes knew this aroma and this aroma was death. After all, he had it around him, even if it was faint.

Jiro was disturbed at the sight of Mika's corpse. "M…Misa-chan…!"

Kyoko on the other hand, had her eyes as wide as plates could be. Her mouth was hanging and from the looks of it, she couldn't express her feelings. Her brother, Hashi Hitachi had the same expression as well.

Bankotsu didn't care at all. He stood up, returned Ayumu's look and put his hands on his waist. "What do you want?"

"Take Mika," he demanded.

"Why me?"

Ayumu bent his head, the shadows covering his face. It was evident that he was reluctant to do so. "It's the only way for her to reform. For so long, she has hidden behind the mask of a murderer and a priestess. It's time for her to decide who she really is. And you can help her. You used to be a human, so you can relate to her… can't you?" He approached Bankotsu and held out Mika's body to him.

Just as unwillingly as Ayumu was, he pulled Mika from his arms and held her with one had supporting her back, the other holding up her knees. Up close, he found that Mika was really necessarily dead… she was just _empty_. "I don't understand. If she's "empty" or "dead", why aren't you going to help her or revive her? Aren't you the one who loves her?"

Ayumu began to walk away, his back facing Bankotsu's. "I have something to do."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Jiro was persisting and annoying as Bankotsu, Kyoko, and Hitachi moved along the forest trail. He was pleading and practically on his knees, for one objective. To hold Mika in his arms, to caress the shape of her body and many more things that only wedded couples should do. But Bankotsu refused; the main reason why was that he was too lazy to put her down.

After a while of trekking along the worn trail, they took a break. Bankotsu laid her against a tree, feeling somewhat guilty. Then, before he could sit and stare at the sky, Kyoko pushed him aside and ran up to Mika's corpse. The poor little girl was in tears, biting her lips, and clawing at what remained of her "sister".

"Kyoko wants you to wake up! Kyoko wants you to tell me I'm a good girl! Mika-nee-chan…" She dug her head beneath her chin. "_Oto-san_… he really misses you… neh, Mika-nee-chan, don't you want to see Daddy and Mommy again? What about Hitachi-nii?!"

Bankotsu scratched his head as he brushed the dirt from his pants. "Uh, Kyoko, she's not alive, so—"

Ignoring his words, she charged at him and gripped at his pants. "Onii-chan! Please! Can't we find a way to wake her up?" The eyes that were looking at him were wet and her face was getting flaky from the tears.

_Bankotsu, can't you understand I love you?_

He turned his head away. "I… don't know."

"Don't lie, Onii-chan! You know a way, don't you?" She ran to where he was looking at, forcing herself in his view. "Onii-chan!"

_Bankotsu, let's run away together. _

Hitachi started to approach them. "What's the matter Kyoko?"

"Hitachi-nii," Kyoko greeted. "Bankotsu-onii-chan won't help us! He…" She shook her head. "Even when he _died and came back alive_."

Hitachi and eventually Jiro, who happened to be eavesdropping, were utterly confounded. "You're… a zombie?"

Bankotsu backed up against the tree. _Shoot, now they're all going to gang up on me._ "What's it to you?"

The brother of Kyoko and possibly Mika seized the collar of Bankotsu's clothing and glared at him. He, like Kyoko, was going to anything to hear Mika's voice again. "It's everything to me! If I can find out how you revived, then—!" He gripped harder. "Don't you get it?"

Bankotsu lowered his eyes. "Even if I told you, do you think she'd want to come back?"

"What?"

"Who are you to her?"

"I'm… her brother…"

"You certainly don't look related to her!"

Hitachi released Bankotsu and took a few steps backwards. He pulled out the Shikon no Kakera he was holding. "I thought so too. But when I think about it, it's sort of impossible for a person to _time travel_ right? But, I did that. And so did Kyoko. So… I said to myself, 'What if the day when _Mika fell into the lake, she time traveled to the past_?"

Bankotsu's eyes widened, a sweat rolling down his face. "A… _lake_?"

Hitachi continued on with his reminiscing. "I was ten years old back then. My family has this tradition going on the family about going to a lake each summer. My dad wanted her to learn how to swim but she had a real bad phobia of the water. Eventually, she gathered enough courage and tried the water. But… as soon as she had her back turned, she screamed. We all thought that she was just being silly and didn't check on her for a bit. Then, when her scream stopped, my parents dropped the platters of food. Mika was gone…

"I thought she had drowned. But when we called the police, they searched the bottom of the lake for a corpse. There was none, but they couldn't find a reason why she disappeared. The other living beings in the water were small fish, but they were completely harmless. I remember my mother fainting several times when they told her this. My father demanded that they search the entire Tokyo for my sister.

"But before they could say anything more, my mother collapsed on last time. She was carrying a child, you see, and it happened on the very same day that Mika disappeared that Kyoko was born. When came out, her face round and her eyes like the glint of her older sister, my parents decided to never speak of Mika again, to pretend that the only sibling that Kyoko ever had was me." Hitachi clutched his hands into fists. "Little did I know; my sister was stranded in a god forsaken war world. And now, she's seventeen, and I'm twenty two." He brought his hands up to his face. "Do you know how much I've missed her?"

Bankotsu slid to the floor. "So that's why she looks so familiar."

Jiro shrugged his shoulders. "Huh? Don't tell me you're her brother too!"

"No," Bankotsu said. He chuckled and hid his head with his arms. "Honestly, I thought I'd never see her again either."

Kyoko wiped away her tears. "What do you mean?"

A memory containing a small, rural village replayed in his mind. The village was surrounded by open plains and a wide variety of trees. The huts were all nice and neat, the ground soft enough for children to walk without wearing any shoes. Bankotsu remembered on that day, he was walking to the lake where he played at.

And standing there, at the lake, was a girl, dripping wet.

He remembered her strange clothing, the shoes she wore with all these complicated strings tied on it. Her brown, but hazel-like eyes in the sunlight. Her squarely cut bangs.

Yes indeed, on that day, when Bankotsu was seven, Mika came to the _Sengoku Jidai._

_

* * *

_

**Author Notes: I was wondering if you guys, (the readers, the reviewers) have noticed the italic words. If you haven't gotten the message, I'll tell you now. THOSE ARE CLUES! After all, this story is about 50-75% (Yes, I know, this is a very long story) done. That's why I am going to start giving out big hints, that I gave in the EARLY EARLY chapters! Now, if you took the time to think about these clues and found out some things for yourself without having me telling you, kudos to you!**

**Now, because I've decided to be extra nice, I will start writing extra TIPS at the end of each chapter. (Well, that's not definite, because I might forget, but I think it won't hurt to expect to see a few TIPS). **

**Oh, and be prepared to steel yourself. The story isn't going to get happier. As you may have noticed, ever since I introduced Izuru and the assassins and Mika's dreams and all those torturing devices in the Temple of Righteous Prayer, my fan fiction is getting darker and darker. :D **

**PLEASE KEEP READING AND KEEP REVIEWING! And now, for the TIPS!**

**(Note: Not all of the tips are completely true.)**

Hashi Mika: As gathered from the characters' discussion, she is a miko who has fallen for Sesshoumaru and the mother of three half-breeds named Maro, Fuki, and Saki. She is constantly referred as "Midoriko's reincarnation" or "having the ability to make another Shikon no Tama" as stated in the very early chapters. She is very cowardly at times and very scared of all problems that come across, to the point where Ayumu had said she wanted to die when she was an assassin. She has an oni inside her, a demon who makes rare appearances but seems to be the result of her anger from her past. She tends to cling onto anybody she deems likable and is supposedly the sister of Hashi Kyoko and Hitachi. It is speculated by Bankotsu that she came over to the Warring Era from the future Japan.

Hashi Kyoko: Time to time, her personality switches on and off to an adorable little girl to a darker, more serious version of herself. She is possibly a** "vessel"**, which we can translate to an **oracle** from the recent episodes. It seems that dead people take control of her body and came speak through her, very much like a spirit medium.

Hashi Hitachi: He has time traveled with the help of a Shikon no Kakera (possibly stolen from either Kouga or Naraku) given by the Assassins of Dream.


	71. Episode 71, The Final Goodbye

Episode 78: The Resurrection Fare

Mika's eyes opened. But she didn't really open them; it was just an illusion of when she was alive. Looking around, she saw that she was suspended in air, her arms extended, and her very pose resembling a Christian cross. She struggled and yelled for help, but her fears were fueled when a large mass of black arose from her. The being had arms and legs like a man, but its eyes were evil and a true golden, unlike her irises' imitation.

"_Who disturbs the Master of the Underworld,"_ his voice went, gruff and loud as a thunderstorm, yet there was tone to it that told Mika that he could've made it softer than a mime too.

Mika winced as the Jigoku Shuushin neared toward her. His nostrils were as big as boulders, sniffing in her scent and taking in every inch of her body.

"_Ah… another tainted soul. Reincarnation or eternal wanders in my rivers?"_ he asked. The black being raised a hand to its chin, scratching at invisible hairs. "_I sentence thee soul, a thousand years in the River of Repent. May you reincarnate into a better soul,"_ he said, shuffling back into the darkness. The pillar binding her began to move, until the entire thing lifted itself high into the air.

Mika's screams filled the hollow air, her mouth wide open as the blackness opened to reveal a small crack in the ground. Slowly, the crack expanded until Mika could feel a heat that could be compared to the sun. She stopped yelling and listened closely. A noise very similar to a cry of agony was heard…

All of a sudden, the floor vanished and a hole of flames, orange with people roasting within appeared. The pillar holding her began to advance toward the ditch, the temperature increasing until Mika felt her skin melting. Why was she receiving this punishment? What had Mika done?

Closer and closer the long column approached, the end already emerged. Mika's feet were next, only five feet away from the lava. She tried to wriggle her way out, but when she attempted to do so, hands with the hue of purple stretched out from the lava. They encased her face in its chillingly cold hands, while laughter from the demons standing guard above the hole surrounded her. Laughing, and laughing… just like the children laughed ten years ago.

_What's so funny,_ Mika snapped, the rage inside her building up as the hands twisted around her neck. _Why am I always persecuted? Why am I always different? I have done nothing wrong!_

"_Confess,"_ a voice called out, belonging to the Jigoku Shuushin once more. "_Because of the situation before you died, I will give you one chance to confess. If you confess and reform, I shall cut your sentence to a month and put you on the Wheel immediately."_

Mika reopened her eyes. "NO! LET ME GO! I'M INNOCENT! I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!"

"_Confess,_" the Master persisted. "_Confesssssssss….."_

_Someone, help me!_

"_No one will help you. It is your trial, your sentence you are giving yourself."_

_Why me?_

"_Because you have sinned. You do not deserve to go to Heaven."_

_What have I done?_

The Master did not answer her thoughts. He stayed silent within the safety of the shadows, watching with vigilance, watching her every move and hearing her every plea.

…_Is it because I am cowardly?_

"_Perhaps."_

_Is it because I refused to respond to my own problems, let them weigh as burdens upon my comrades?_

"_Most likely."_

_Is it because I cast away my past, thrown away concerns from my friends? Oh… take pity on my, Master of the Underworld!_

"Very well," he said. But this time, it was not the Master of the Underworld. Mika, weary and without awareness that her entire body excluding her head had sunk into the lava, opened her brown eyes. There was a shadow, an outline of someone she used to know. But she couldn't remember, her head was so heavy and her mouth so thirsty.

A hand caressed her hair. "Girl of Sins, do you accept a deal? In return for your soul, I shall bring your body back its animations and dark memories."

"…My soul? Then how do I live in the real world then?" she asked, her chin starting its passage into the flames.

"You have two souls… a pure, innocent Mika, and the demon oni Mika. I will take the one speaking to me and the other will live." His hand went to her eyes. "Now, close them and forget…"

Mika shook her head violently. "No! I don't want to go back to the real world!"

The shadow seemed to be offended. "Why not? Don't tell me you're afraid of your problems again!"

"No, it's just that if I revive, everyone might get killed—"

"How many times have I told you to stand up to your problems? Why do you keep RUNNING AWAY FROM THEM?" The screams of the tortured stopped when this boy's voice rose. Then, he collected his composure; his hand left her face and retracted back into the shadows, while a thin strand of blue was pulled from Mika's eyes. The shadow boy's arm continued to pull until the strand gradually grew longer and bigger.

All the while, Mika watched as her sight of the shadow before her dimmed. She felt the pains before she died, all the regrets she had, and the love she had before as well.

The line pulled and tugged. Mika felt an ache where her heart used to be.

_Will I really return to the living, _she whispered, as her soul plunged into the flames of the Underworld.

The same voice, now clearer and stronger as the tips of her black hairs sizzled into the flames answered on last time.

"It depends Mika. It's up to you to decide. Will you carry out your _revenge_… or will you learn to love again?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"_Once upon a time, there was a girl. She was of small stature, no more than four feet tall. She had beautiful black hair that went below her shoulders. She had eyes with an attractive golden glint to them. One day, she crossed the boundaries of time due to a lake of blue. She awoke to find a land she had never seen before. She was curious, hungry, and dreadfully homesick, but yet she moved out to this land. She went over the hills and into a village where boys and girls wore no shoes._

"_This girl was so small; she was no more than four feet tall. However, she was spotted so fast it was as if she were a giant. But the one that saw her was not a grown man, nor a grown woman. It was a boy, with blue eyes and dark black hair."_

_Smiling, the little girl wearing a blue yukata brought the paper to yet another little girl wearing a simple white kimono. She shoved the papers into the other girl's hands and was about to speak when a boy—_

Bankotsu slammed his head against the tree one last time. The voices in his head stopped and he awoke from the feverish dream. Wincing, he got up and stroked the bruised spot on his forehead. As he pulled back, he found that there were droplets of blood on his fingers. Cursing under his breath, he stood up only to fall back down against the tree he had been hitting himself against.

Sighing from exhaustion, he turned absentmindedly to the girl that Ayumu had pushed onto him so rudely. He studied her black locks and her slightly opened mouth. She looked so familiar, like the girl from ten years ago…

But what happened ten years ago? Aside from the lake and a girl soaking wet, Bankotsu didn't remember anything else. He leaned against the tree trunk, tired from all this thinking. Since when did he care about a girl? Why in the world was he even letting her live?

He slapped the palm of his hand on his face. _That's right, she's dead. I don't have to worry about her stalking me and…_ He moaned and rubbed the temples of his head. _What other annoying thing did she do?_

Without notice, a rustle in the bushes was heard. Kyoko's voice rang out from behind.

"What is it Kyoko? Why are you even awake," he exclaimed, peeking from the tree only jump back from seeing the ten year old nude body. "God—oh god, put on some darn clothes!"

"Bankotsu-onee-chan, I can't find my clothes."

"Why in the world are you naked anyway?" he shouted, his face turning red. If it was a grown woman, he wouldn't have been blushing so hard but… there was something very wrong about seeing a child's body, especially if you're not blood related. It just wasn't right.

"Hitachi-nii said I should take a bath in the river. He took one already and so did Jiro."

"So where did you put them?" _Leave it to a ten year old who loses her clothes in the middle of the night, _he thought bitterly.

"I think a squirrel took them. He might have thought it was food."

"Then go find the squirrel and leave me alone."

Kyoko gave him a wicked smile. "Are you going to do bad stuff when I'm gone?"

Bankotsu rolled his eyes. "Oh, maybe."

The ten year old leaped out from the bushes and jumped onto his back. "Piggy-back ride!"

"W-WHAT THE—GET OFF OF ME YOU SICK—!"

Another rustle in the bushes was heard and all at once, Bankotsu was staring at the feet of a certain older brother. His eyes followed the long legs and then up to the face of an angry Hitachi. A weak smile worked up onto his face. "Why hello," he managed to say.

"Hello yourself." Hitachi leaned in until he was nose to nose with Bankotsu. "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MY _IMOTO_?" His arms reached out and seized the naked Kyoko from his back. "You molester!"

Bankotsu glowered at Kyoko, who stuck her tongue at him. _Oh yes, I remember now. An annoying trait that Mika shares with Kyoko is that they're both naughty._

"You're naughty," Hitachi spat, as if he could read his mind. Then he walked back into the bushes, where he set Kyoko back onto her feet and handed her some temporary clothes.

"Mmm," someone said, stirring from sleep. At first, Bankotsu thought it was Jiro but it sounded like a female…

And then came the sword tip at his chest, the glare of someone who had returned from death to kill, and the utterly unmistakable golden eyes of Hashi Mika. Bankotsu shook his head from disbelief as the blade missed piercing his heart. He ducked and wrapped his arms around Mika, then bent backwards, bringing her head to meet with the gritty floor.

Blood flowed freely from Mika's robes, but she soon returned to a fighting position. With Totosai's blade in one hand, the other holding the fabric she ripped from Bankotsu's kimono, she smirked.

Her voice did not sound like the bubbly Mika he knew. It was seductive, a bit deeper, and more ill-toned. "_Konichiwa_, I've returned from the depths of the Underworld." Her eyes turned ruby colored then, telling Bankotsu that this was the oni that slept inside Mika. "Remember me?"

Lifting the sword high into the air, she aimed it at Bankotsu. "In celebration of my awakening, I shall kill 1001 people in one week. The extra person of the one thousand…" Her lips curled to a demonic smirk. "IT'LL BE YOU!"

Charging at him at a slower pace than he had expected, she thrust the sword forward, then brought the blade upward, trying to hack at her prey that had jumped up to avoid the hit. To dodge this as well, he leaned forward while in midair and seized the tip of her sword. Like a handstand, he stayed up and using her sword as a balance, he leaped behind the revived body of what used to be Mika.

But she was not Mika. Her bloodlust had taken over the naïve girl. She was a demon, a horror to begin with, and even Bankotsu felt a tiny quiver in the back of his spine. He shook his head and dodged another slash and began to sprint for Banryuu. As soon as he got it, he smiled, realizing he could fight with ease now that he could have a blade to defend himself with.

They ran at each other, swords locked together, then leapt away, the oni flinging the blade at him. When it stuck a few inches away from him, a long, transparent, and red arm materialized to retract her weapon. As her arm slithered back to its owner out of Mika's back, the oni shoved some of her hair from her neck.

"Aren't I beautiful?" she asked, her tone definitely speaking of vain. "I used to be an ugly man who didn't shave or cut his hair. I was hideous… until I found a new host. But throughout the years, I have never given myself a name. What do you think would be fitting?" she spat, racing at Bankotsu again.

The mercenary used his giant blade to shield her attack. "I dunno," he said as they battled against each others' swords with pure strength. "I don't know many names."

The oni scorned at him, clicking her tongue. "You're such a useless man. Fine." She kicked his shins and slid beneath him, as if she were liquid. Then, as she reappeared behind him, she locked her arm around his neck.

"How about _**Mion**_? I'm a demon, so if you combine the characters for demon… it makes _Mion_. Isn't it a nice name? Well, I think playtime is over." She shifted her eye color to red once more and tightened her grip around Bankotsu's neck. "_SHI NEH!_"

But no matter how much strength she put in her muscles, Bankotsu felt no pain, heard no sound of bones breaking. All that he felt was the fabric and the arm beneath the cloth and the heat around his neck. He had already faced death by neck and if the oni that named herself "Mion" wanted to strangle him, that wouldn't work at all, would it?

However, just that instant, a certain girl had finished dressing and had walked out of the bushes. As soon as her eyes landed on the body that used to belong to Mika, she lost all logical reasoning and started to run toward her. "O…onee? ONEE!" Her pace increased, her arms spread open wide for a welcoming hug.

Mion certainly wasn't going to like this one bit at all. When she felt Kyoko's arms around her waist, she spat at the little girl when she turned her head around. "_Get away, you disgusting insect!"_

Such malice she gave Kyoko, such killing intent she sent into Kyoko's eyes. It could be said that if it weren't for the blade that struck through her shoulder, the ten-year-old might have went mad from that menacing look. When Mion pulled it out, Kyoko was flung in the direction of an overgrown tree.

The impact from Mion's deadly and swift blade brought Kyoko against a tree trunk. Her feet dragged against the ground, the heat scalding her thighs as she rocketed her way. When she hit the tree, a splatter of blood burst from her mouth. She went unconscious at once.

Next, was Kyoko's brother; unfortunately for the oni, he was trained in the arts of swordsmanship. Even with a fishing spear, which happened to be fashioned out of a sharpened rock and a stick, he struck Mika's back without mercy.

The oni let out a fair amount of blood exit her mouth. Bankotsu winced as her blood landed on his hair. Who knows what kind of germs Mika had when she "died"?

"You're not my sister," Hitachi said, pushing in the spear. Then he let go and backed up as the red hand arose from her back. It tried to reach for Hitachi, but he was too quick. In the end, it grabbed a boulder and tried to throw it at him, but he had already made his way to Bankotsu to free him. With success, they left the stunned oni with the spear in the middle of her stomach and her red hand suspended in the air.

Mion was not, in sense, amused or happy. She was desperate to get the weapon out, but she was panicking so much she didn't think to use her extra third hand to pull it out. Instead, she screamed in terror, revealing what a vulnerable baby she was.

"I will not die! I WILL NOT DIE! I… I have 1001 people to kill…! I have…" She sucked in the air and after a few moments of holding it in, she let a high-pitched shriek erupt from her throat. Black wicked black and material of the Underworld surged into her from the ground. It wrapped around the spear and around her face, wrapping and twisting in complicated patterns. When she was completely unseen and masked by the cloak of black, the scream stopped and the blackness vanished.

Standing there was Mion and the spear that was broken in half. With a murderous look on her face, she studied her surroundings. "Where are you?" she yelled out, breath heavy and set on finding the one who had given her that recent wound. She took a step—and suddenly collapsed.

Again, the blood was coming out from her thighs and stomach. She was confused; what was making this happen? _This body is faulty…_ she thought, gripping the dirt as she forced herself to sit. She then took a hold of the sword she had been holding and stood up. Slowly, almost to a crawl, she moved in the direction of the sun.

When Mion was far in the distance, leaving a blood trail, Hitachi emerged from the tree he was hiding, pulling Bankotsu behind him as well. He ran to Kyoko, who was still breathing, but from her eyes, he could tell that she had been mentally damaged severely. All along she had believed that her "older sister" that she always dreamed of was kind and gentle, someone who joked out things. But instead she was going to kill her…

Kyoko panted, holding onto Hitachi's sleeve firmly. "_Doshite? _What did I do to make Onee so mad?" She beat her head against the tree again and again, feeling ashamed and guilty for something she didn't do.

Bankotsu scratched his head as he watched Kyoko's older brother comforting his sister. "Well, Mika never had a right brain anyway."

Hitachi shot up to his feet and looked into Bankotsu's eyes. "That wasn't my sister! My sister would never do ANYTHING like that!"

"Oh, and how would you know? You've known her for, what, 10 minutes?"

"What about you?"

"I've known her longer than you have," Bankotsu repeated. "Possibly," he then added.

Just then, Jiro yelled out toward them. They turned around and spotted him coming toward them. When he was beside them, he asked for the situation. After a quick explanation, Jiro immediately had a solution.

"Let's go after her! We can't let her run loose, if she plans on killing 1001 people," he explained. Bankotsu shook his head right away. He obviously did not want to get involved, the reason partially because it didn't matter if the oni killed people. After all, he used to be a murderer himself…

~O~O~O~O~O~

The oni, Mion had stumbled upon a village. She had never seen one, or rather; her memories of being Mika and other hosts had been wiped clean. She was amazed at how many people had gathered, trading items with each other and discussing gossiping topics. Their beautiful and radiant cloths of the nobles made her envious. The simple wear of the farmers looked light.

It almost made her think twice about wanting to kill a thousand and one people in one week.

Sliding down the hill she had been standing on, she approached the village, feeling dirty in terms of hair and smell. As she neared some guards of the village, the men turned their heads away from her. Mion scowled and held up the sword in annoyance when one of the men said something interesting and something that saved their lives.

"Um, lady, I don't want to be rude. But you need a bath!" one of the stockier guards commented. Mion raised her eyebrows in confusion, her voice exactly like Mika's.

"…A bath?" she repeated, resembling a child who was learning words.

"Yeah. Have one of the women take care of you. Just go to your left and you'll find them."

Mion scratched her head, dragging Totosai's sword on the floor and leaving a trail, and then entered the gate.

Inside, she smiled and glanced at the world around her. A young girl around her age tapped her shoulder as she walked by. Children younger than her ran by, pulling a colorful string along, while animals followed by.

The oni had never seen such thing before. As a manifestation of anger, the only thing the evil being knew was the revenge and hate Mika stored in the very corner of her soul. Even now, the oni had no idea why Mika's bloodlust and vengeance was created when the world was so wonderful, so happy.

Perhaps, now being herself and not a mere parasite launching herself on the host's soul, she could live a life too. She glanced over at some teenage girls discussing a bargain for rouge. Maybe she could be girlish too.

And so, with no hesitation, the sword slipped from her hand. She was convinced and Mion took a step forward, ready to start a new life. Even if she had to learn how to walk again, she would live a peaceful life… as a human, as a girl the oni wanted to be.

All of a sudden, in the nearby distance, a tower collapsed. It was but a shadowy outline, but if Mion squinted, she would see a large animal flying in the sky. Next to this animal in the sky was a long snake. The animal was full of white fur, while on the sides, blood flowed down freely like waterfalls. Such a beautiful dog he was.

The oni was captivated. She wondered who that was, why the being was so wonderful…

What was her past? She was hoping with such desire that possibly, an oni like her had a connection with this being. She took a step forward and began to run, chasing the being.

Chasing… like chasing a butterfly out of her reach.

A pain struck her head, a memory racing into her mind. The memory… the memory…

What was the memory…?

"Sesshoumaru," the oni mouthed. The name was bizarre, yet so familiar. "SESSHOUMARU!"

In an instance, as if the dog could hear her, the being looked down. She could see his enormous eyes widen, his jaws opening. The snake, which seemed to be supporting him floated away, coming down.

The dog and the snake transformed into a blue, bright light. The lights struck the center of the town, while the oni increased her pace. She quickened her footsteps, racing toward the lights. When she was at her destination, she beamed at the sight of the injured man. He had fierce golden eyes, a purple crescent moon on his forehead, and long silver hair. He was donned in silky and expensive kimonos…

The other light who seemed to be the snake transformed into a young woman. She too, had a rare color to her hair which was white, while she wore a dark purple kimono. Over it, she had worn a white kimono top decorated with green flowers.

Slowly, the man rose to his full height, his eyes focused in the direction of Mion. The oni could do nothing but continue on with this pleasure, smiling foolishly. Then, came a voice.

It was a voice that belonged to a green imp that had ran out from the gathering crowd. He said something about a girl named Rin, something about falling or being hurt. The injured man showed no emotion at this, but he had already begun moving, focused on one thing. He walked closer and closer to Mion, the oni already counting the highlights in his eyes.

And then passed her.

Sesshoumaru passed Mion as if she were just another human. As if the person named Mika, the person that was supposed to revive and live again to see the offspring she brought to life before dying, existed. As if that kiss, that one show of care was meant something.

Yet, as this memory faded, Mion felt disappointment. What in the world had she been so happy about? What in this filthy, human world that was full of back-stabbing and killing so beautiful? It was a world that the Master of the Underworld had served for many years to punish.

Mion gripped her hand into a fist. Why did he pass by? Was she unnoticeable? Why?

Then, all of a sudden, a child ran in. He was no more uncommon than anyone else, but he had picked up Mika's sword. Immediately, the oni kicked the boy to the ground and seized her sword. With one deadly strike, the boy was to be another corpse.

The oni was breathing hard. She was furious, completely played as a fool. She didn't want to become a human any longer. She turned to the man in the distance and started run toward him. But he was not her target.

Pushing him aside, surprising him as if she were a moving building, she leaped at the green imp that had brought him the news. She too, shoved him somewhere else and aimed her attention at a little girl wearing an orange kimono.

"_Why_…" she said, before grabbing the tuft of hair that the girl had tied with a ribbon. "_What's so important about her? What about me?_" Mion laid her blade on the girl's neck, feeling the regrets of the former body. She felt the overcoming flood of the tears Mika had shed, the love that Mika had. Were they all for nothing?

The oni, becoming the state of anger she should've been, glared at Sesshoumaru. It seemed that he was aware of Mika's body and the oni staring at him.

"_I… wasn't anything to you, was I? Did I just die, just die halfway and come back to see a man like you?_" She added pressure to the blade on Rin's neck. "_If I, who used to be human, am nothing to you, then this precious girl is nothing too, right?_"

The green imp leaped up and down in panic. "Y-You traitor miko! Let Rin go!"

"_Miko? What's that? Did you think I was a saint? Did you think, just because I loved you, I could forgive anything you did?_"

Sesshoumaru was composed. "I did nothing to you."

Now it was Mion's turn to widen her eyes. A tear rolled down her cheek and the final regrets of the past Mika disappeared. "_Then I shall carry out this revenge._"

Rin screamed, the blood escaping from the cut the blade was making. Without a second's thought, Sesshoumaru forgot about everything he used to know about Mika and charged at her, claws sharp and ready. He slashed at Mion's neck, releasing a fountain of youki seeping from the third red arm of the oni's.

Mion flung Rin aside, let her blade rip open another innocent human's body, then used the bloodied sword and struck it at Sesshoumaru's shoulder.

As if on beat, the clouds that had also assembled earlier passed by, releasing a shower of cold rain. Mion laid her head against Sesshoumaru's chest, tears flooding down her cheeks.

The price was paid. Mion vanished, having carried out revenge and leaving only Mika, who not fought to come back.

"What have I done…?" she asked, shutting her eyes and her hand shaking as she tried to pull the sword out. "I… didn't mean to…"

Sesshoumaru was silent. Did he understand, or was he going to kill her for injuring someone that had changed his heart?

Mika uncurled the red fingers of hers and backed away. The falling fluid started to pound away at the evidence in her nails. Mika looked up; not knowing what was to come.

The dog youkai drew Tenesiga from its sheath. He held it before her and aimed a look at Mika, one that she had feared in her deepest nightmares. "The dead… _should stay dead._"

Even if he knew that Mika had not really died, nothing would change. The small bond between Mika and Sesshoumaru was going to be cut, no matter what.

Yet Mika tried to make amends. "Can't I… apologize?"

The silence meant no.

"Can't I see the infants? I… don't even know how they look like!"

"Three," Sesshoumaru said.

"Sesshoumaru! That wasn't me! It was the oni…!"

"Two," he continued.

Innocence did not run in Mika's blood. Regardless of anything, even if the boy she had struck down was going to live, Mika was a killer. She was guilty of crime…

_Accept your sins. Move on,_ the voice of the Jigoku Shuushin whispered.

_I can't_, Mika mouthed. But she forced herself to bow and threw the sword onto the ground. "If… you ever need me to be a mother to them, you can call me! Even if I'm a thousand miles away," she said, rising up, "I'll come back."

He dashed to her, but his sword was aimed at the floor. He leaned in toward her ear and hissed the cruelest sentence she had ever heard him say.

"They don't need a_ human mother._"

And with that, Mika pushed him away and ran in the opposite direction. She was fighting back the anger, the urge to kill everyone out of sadness, but that would cause more problems. She sprinted across the wet floor, scaring aside the spectators.

All she had wanted… was to burn in the Underworld. As long as she didn't cause anyone grief, as long as she didn't have to confront her problems, she would accept that place as Heaven.

She passed the gate, the guards that had commented about her scent, and raced into the forests. Her sandals had already worn to the layer of her foot, yet even when the rocks pricked her toe, she leaped across a creek. She landed on her knees and ran again. Running was so hard, but she had run away many times already. It was second nature now.

Now she had went back to the place she awoke from. The area where she awoke as Mion, a demon who was going to kill before Mika was fully alive.

She had hurt so many people. But they didn't die, so Mika thought herself of innocent, free and pure as the clouds. However, how pure was she? A needle that stabs everyone's back? A bird of darkness that brings the eternal night?

She turned around, the mist of the rain making it hard to see. There was a shadow approaching her, its footsteps softer than the rain. When the shadow was in range of sight, Mika could see that the shadow was Bankotsu.

How did Mika first meet him? When he was napping beside a tree, a boy that wanted to be free from the angry clutches of the world?

"So, how does it feel like to be alive again?" he asked. His braid was lying on his shoulder, his arms folded.

Mika shook her head, swallowing. "Bad. I can't believe I was a monster, even for a few moments. And I created that monster."

"You didn't like the killing?"

She sat down, even though she knew well enough that the soaked floor would go through her pants. "Killing, huh? What was so fun when you took a person's life? All I can see is the pain, the "why" when the person looked at you. It… drives me insane."

"I don't know. It's just a thing."

"Then, do you know how painful it is when the person you love more than anything in the world wants you back in the Underworld?" She turned around on her back and hugged the nearest tree, blinking tears. "I feel so unwanted, so useless. Now that I've come back, the past haunting me, I'm wondering why I couldn't face my problems."

"Hmm," Bankotsu murmured. "So what are you going to do?"

Mika uncoiled her arms from the tree and sat back up. "I'm going to follow you."

"…Follow me?" Bankotsu walked next to her and shoved his face into hers. "Why do you want to follow me?"

"I might learn something."

Bankotsu pouted and socked her head gently. "Stupid. You're going to regret following me."

"You'll let me?"

"Well, even if I say no, you'll still follow, right?"

She smiled, her eyes plagued by sorrow to an extent that would take Sesshoumaru's death to cheer her up. "Or maybe, I'm just looking for someone else to love…"

"What did you say?"

Mika shook her head and stood back up. She leaned her head on Bankotsu's shoulder and closed her eyes.

_I want… one moment to rest. I want to tell myself, even if Sesshoumaru will never even bear to look at me, I'll love him only. When I die naturally, I'll still love him. He'll be my idol, forever shining in gold._

Satisfied with that silent vow, she and Bankotsu walked off into the distance, the grass shining like the stars.


	72. Episode 72

Episode 72: Ninja Mika, At Your Service

"No," Bankotsu said firmly and stubbornly. He shoved away the fish that Mika had caught in the river. "I'm sick of fish. That's all we eat. Fish, fish, fish, and FISH! Why can't we have some rice or mushrooms…?"

Mika screamed as the slimy scales were pushed against her face. "EW, EW, TOTAL EW! Get the fish away from me!"

Bankotsu punched her forehead. "You're the one who caught them!"

The miko narrowed her eyes menacingly at him. "And you're the one sitting here like a king. Why in the world did you leave those two… what's their names?"

"Hitachi and Kyoko," he answered. "And I left them because they were annoying!"

"Did you ever use that brain of yours? Did you ever think they might have some money to go into a village to purchase some FOOD?" Mika pretended to smack herself and shrugged, her shoulders going up and down. "Oh yeah, I forgot. You're a sadistic killer," she said, gritting her teeth and her tone deader than the fish she was holding.

"Yeah, and watch your mouth or I'll sadistically kill you too," he said. He sat down, watching the last of the few flames that had tried to start die, hiding in the wet branches they managed to get.

Because of the rain from yesterday, nothing and I mean nothing, would work. Especially the fires, which refused to even show a spark. The rocks were always wet and the mossy ground was green with dirt. Things were quite nasty between the miko and the braided mercenary too. It turns out they were a perfect couple—an arguing, hating, I'll-squash-you-like-a-bug couple, at least.

Mika shut one eye and kept her right one open, her right arm holding the fish wrung back. With careful aim, she slammed the fish into Bankotsu's head and watched as he seized her hand and flung her onto the ground, to which she got back up right away. He was brushing dust off his armguard while Mika hit him with another of her fish.

And so, the rest of the night was concluded, after a lot of fighting, a lot of shouting, and a lot of ant crunching. Sadly, the two arguers didn't care much about murdering those poor ants.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The day before, when the rain was pouring, Yukuro confronted Sesshoumaru. She was madder than a snake could be, her usual pale face crimson, her fangs growing out of her mouth, and her eyes burning with hatred. She had seized his collar, shoved him against a tree, and shouted the worst insults she could think of.

Sesshoumaru felt no remorse, no regret, and nothing to be sorry about. Mika… was dead. She had died when the children were born. That was all there was to it.

Yukuro thought otherwise. She said that Mika had been in the crowd of villagers, watching him, hoping for him, but he had abandoned her. Her exact words were, "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU MIGHT HAVE HURT HER?"

The daiyoukai continued to ignore the snake youkai. When Yukuro realized that he was not going to repent, she released him and walked to a tree. Her hand went to her stomach slowly, stroking the fabric, her eyes recalling painful memories.

Then, in the same voice of sorrow she had used up until now about Mika, she started to talk about her past.

"There was this man. He was really kind to me. He said that I was really pretty and… I just fell for him at first sight."

Sesshoumaru grunted. "A human, right?"

Yukuro nodded. "That's right. He was a handsome human. He had the nicest black eyes I had ever seen. And his hands were so strong when he picked up the plow and brought it across the earth." She closed her eyes, remembering the youth's face. "His mother was wonderful too. Every night, I sneaked out of my house to come visit him. Eventually, he asked me to marry him.

"We were to marry in front of a temple, where the main priest made us take vows. However, on that day, when I stood on the podium and waited for him to arrive, he didn't come. I waited and waited… for such a long time. Even the priest began to become suspicious and soon, I left the temple in search of my future husband. But when I went back to his house, it turned out he didn't want to marry me after all. He had wanted to tell everyone that I was a youkai and that I bewitched people and that I had controlled him.

"I remember how furious I was. I wanted to kill him, to rip out his guts and throw his heart into the ashes of a fire. I was prepared to burn down the village, but at that moment, he had turned around. His eyes were still gentle… and it calmed me immediately.

"But being the foolish young female I was, when he said he was sorry and he was being bewitched by some other youkai, he held out his arms to me and I ran into them without another thought. However, as soon as I did, the villagers surrounded me with spears and arrows. I was to be shot to death… while I clawed at his clothing, screaming that I was carrying his child. But he said I was viler than he thought I was, lying about his innocence."

Sesshoumaru blinked a few times, absorbing all this in. "So, why are you alive then?"

"A simple barrage of arrows wouldn't kill me," Yukuro explained. "Especially when I learned that humans weren't just liars at time, but evil, despicable, and lustful for blood. I had run away at that time, the arrows slowing me down by pinning my kimono down on the floor. All the while, my hand," she said, gripping her obi, "was touching my stomach. I was trying to reassure the baby inside me, that even if her or his father didn't want it, I would. I would be a caring mother… but I failed. At that moment, I tripped. I passed out, remembering my snakes were bringing me up to the air. But when I was back at my home, I knew from the blood that was dripping onto the floor a hundred feet in the air, the baby was dead."

Sesshoumaru stared at Yukuro with somewhat pitiful eyes. "So that's why you treat Mika so preciously?"

"Yes, because she's the child that I had killed… right? She's my perfect daughter…"

The daiyoukai scoffed at her comment and moved into the forest. "Stupid. That is the most foolish thing I've ever heard."

"You say that because you're like that man that left me! You only think about yourself and—" She shut her mouth and wiped away the remaining tears. She thought of the three children that Mika had died giving birth to and thought about how Sesshoumaru would probably leave them to starve. And then she decided that no matter how much she might hate Sesshoumaru right now, she couldn't leave those children to die.

Until she met Mika again, she would take care of them. _That would have been what Mika would've done… but she never got the chance, did she?_ Looking up to the sky, she sighed. "Poor Mika; I bet she's crying right now…"

~O~O~O~O~O~

But apparently, the part about crying was not about to happen. In fact, the two were still at their arguments, walking into what seemed to be a pending battle between two warlords. To the right was a group of soldiers, ranging from a hundred to ten thousand, all wearing red. To the left, there were soldiers wearing blue uniforms, their sheer number smaller, yet the weapons in their hands looked deadly.

Mika and Bankotsu stopped arguing for a moment, turning their heads at the scene. As they started walk toward them, Mika could feel the lust for battle leaking out of Bankotsu's composed stature. She could tell from his eyes, his slight vibration of his fist, that he wanted nothing more than to see blood splattered.

She looked away from him and glanced at her hand. Memories of her days as assassins were dim. But it was easy to see the blood on her hands now and the excitement of battle. She could almost even taste the metallic liquid on her lips… when Bankotsu pointed out something.

"Look, that daimyo's glaring at us," he said, grinning.

"You said you were a mercenary, a while back then. Were you famous?"

"I guess."

"Maybe… he knows you then and wants you to help them beat the other guys," Mika said, nodding her head against blue uniformed soldiers.

At that suggestion, Bankotsu licked his lips. "That sounds fun."

And it was true, when a messenger from the red side came running down the hill to greet them. In his hand was a scroll that the leader of the red side scribbled in. The messenger opened the scroll and began to relay the message that the daimyo wanted the two to know. The message was just as Mika predicted; fight for them in return for a reward.

In their current situation, stomachs growling, they accepted without a second thought. Quickly, Bankotsu jumped down from the hill all the way down to the floor where the red troops were stationed. Mika on the other hand, asked for a sturdy sword which was presented in a minute. She followed suit, her heart pounding with anticipation.

Soon, she could hear the war cries of the blue side. The red troops gave out a cry too and began to charge. With Bankotsu and Mika at the front line, the two sides soon collided. Swords battled against each other, while axes stole lives with one swift blow to the head, arrows striking the little nudge that gave way to the heart, and catapults that killed a lot of men at once.

Bankotsu was taking out the blue soldiers with ease. His hand, which gripped his large Banryuu, led the blade expertly through the metal armors they wore. Sometimes, when they were smart enough to duck, he would bring the blade down, jump into the air and kick a few mouths to dodge incoming sword hacks. When he was done with one group, he would leap over the corpses and engage in another battle with some other troops. All the while, he left with a victory and an unscarred body.

The girl with golden eyes who used to be a miko was struggling however. Her sword was faster than the men's swing, yet her blows too weak to deal any damage. Mika's legs were also hurting; this was due to the childbirth she had to overcome just a week ago. After she swung her sword about two times, her legs would stop moving, leaving her open for any enemies to attack.

This was very troublesome, as she could barely dodge the next attack. Soon, she was cornered to a large rock near the blue side, where archers had their bows ready to kill. Arms shaking, she fought against her limit and pushed against the powers of her enemies. But they still beat her to the wall, hacking at her chest and head.

Then, something overflowed inside her. She reopened her eyes, looking at the world with a slightly golden tint. Memories of how the assassins powered up in a single moment flooded into her. How did they do it? How did they force the yoki that usually belonged to youkai into their body and use it to their will? How…?

She stood up straighter than before, aiming inhuman golden eyes her soldiers. She flicked her sword to the side and leaped into the air. As the soldiers watched in awe, she began to descend, her sword ready to plunge into the ground. When she reached the floor, a tremor more horrifying that a simple girl of seventeen can bring erupted from the very spot the sword was struck in. The soldiers flew, flying into the sky like the stone cannons.

When a soldier bravely charged at her with the sword, she could see the intent five seconds earlier. She countered with her bare hand, and then twisted the blade bent until it broke off. As the soldier stood in shock, she gave him a roundhouse kick into his ribs. Then, releasing a mad amount of energy from herself like a bomb, she proceeded to watch the remaining men fly away from the force she was exerting.

Now the battlefield was empty of standing people, save for the injured and healthy blue soldiers. Mika looked at her hands, the regular color of the world returning to her eyes. It was easy for her to harm another person, after all.

_You've changed,_ she told herself. _After what had happened… I'm no longer the naïve little girl I was._ She closed her eyes and began to walk toward the triumphant team.

The warlord of the red side was not a unique man, at least in appearance. He looked as arrogant as any other man would be his mustache according to recent fashion styles and his need for women around him strong. As Bankotsu and Mika entered his domain, she could spot him glancing her way often.

"It's all thanks you, Bankotsu-sama," the warlord said. He chuckled, having remembered the once dead mercenary's name. "Though I thought you were dead for ten years and then died again after being revived. The rumors said you were beaten by a _hanyou_. But that's stupid, considering how amazing you were on the battlefield."

Bankotsu scowled deeply as soon as the warlord mentioned the word "half-breed". He stabbed Banryuu in the floor and threatened the daimyo. "Watch what you say," he warned and glanced at the warlord's neck. The warlord immediately clammed up and motioned to his servants to bring out the food. Soon, when the feasting began, the mood was once again bubbly and victorious, the air filled with laughter.

During their dining, the warlord asked Mika to sit with him. Not wanting any unnecessary angry banter, she obeyed and sat next to him. As if they were jolly ol' buddies, he sat his arm on her shoulder. Mika shuddered at his touch and felt her head splitting from a headache—

—"_Mika, it's your turn," Ayumu said, gesturing to the frightened shogun. The golden-eyed assassin shuffled slowly toward the man, sword drawn. With one strike, a fountain of blood spewed from his chest. Panicking, the man grasped his chest and aimed a finger at the doll-like girl. She stood motionless and took a few steps backward, letting her killer companions talk to him._

_The deal was simple. Death for not obedience to their demands, or life if he obliged. Of course, he cowardly chose his life instead of his people. Ayumu, who was kneeling before the shogun, thrust his hand to his neck. "Selfish…" he said. "If we could detect a bit of unselfishness if you said "death", you would've lived. But…"_

_The man was dead before she knew it. Garando transported them to another town. The same thing repeated over again. The massacre of the village. The threat to the ruler. The death of a selfish man. _

_It was tiring. How long did she have to wait before she could receive the power than her companions had? The demon, almost magical power that could bring down any opponent. Mika wanted it, she wanted it so badly. She wanted it so that she could kill the one person that let her down… that crushed her very life._

_Finally, they turned around. They had sensed her lust for battle and power. They inserted a black thing inside her. A golden color burst out of her chest, illuminating her eyes with the same hue. The power flowed through her veins and became a part of her. In return… was her heart._

_She laughed as Ayumu stabbed his ugly sword into her chest. The thing she called her heart was now a ghastly thing. She would be glad to be rid of it now. _

_But why wasn't Ayumu smiling when he extracted her heart? Was she making… another mistake? Was she…? Oh…_

—and in an instant, Mika held the tip of her blade at the daimyo's throat. Her golden eyes reappeared again. Everyone in the room stopped eating and drinking, their eyes focused on her attempt at the man's life. Bankotsu too, was interested in what Mika was aiming to do.

But Mika's head kept hurting… what was going on? Why was she having such painful headaches?

_It's because you're afraid. It's because of that flaw, that selfish flaw you have. _The world disappeared, the white, void dream world of hers being rebuilt around her. _Midoriko_, beautiful and wise stood before her. _The men you "killed", the selfish men who favored themselves. You are like them. You are a human, imperfect and shall never be whole. _

_I'm selfish? _Mika asked the being before. _I haven't done anything wrong!_

_You insist on foolish things_, Midoriko said. _Very well. I'll unravel one mystery for you. _A somewhat ironic, childish smile appeared on the woman's face. _Don't tell anyone okay?_

And then, Mika blinked from the bright light in her face. As she blinked, once, twice, thrice, the world dimmed. All of a sudden, she was a child's body again. Ten years old, lanky and lean, with messy black hair tied in the back.

She was standing in a river, where fish tickled her ankles as they flew by. As she stood up in shock, someone charged at her from the waist and tackled her into the water. She turned around, insult on her tongue by instinct and nearly fainted from the face she saw.

It was a face she had seen before. A round, playful, and yet mischievous face that belonged to a boy who was many months older than her smiled at her shocked face. He had short black hair that his mother tied into a braid for him. His bangs were brushed to the side…

"Stupid," he teased, socking the girl's head. "How could not hear me?"

The child Mika closed her eyes. A wave of sadness, rather than happiness swept over her as she stood up and turned away. "I thought you were with _**Nagato,**__**Bankotsu**_…"

_I feel so tired, _Mika thought. _Where am I? Where's that woman that was standing before me a second ago?_

She reopened her eyes, thinking she was still in the dream world when she awoke in a dark room. It wasn't as if she was thrown into a dungeon or something though. Instead, it was a beautiful room with two pairs of futons sitting side by side against each other. The screen doors were open to show the scenery of lily pads, fireflies, and the full moon. Staggering, Mika stood and looked over to the screen doors. Bankotsu was leaning against it, having seemingly fallen asleep.

Mika shook her head and slapped her cheeks to stop from collapsing. She had to know if she had really dreamed of Bankotsu. She had to know if that boy was really him… or just some boy who coincidently had the same strange name.

Tiptoeing to his side, she knelt down and leaned in toward his face. Squinting, she examined his face from all angles. However, as she did so, some drool dripped from his mouth and fell onto her lap. Screaming, she shoved the corpse boy into lake nearby. He awoke as soon as he felt her touch and arose from the lily-padded lake with a cross look.

He pushed up a sleeve and started marching toward her. Meanwhile, Mika held her hands in front of him, trying to calm him down. But how could anyone calm down if someone just knocked you off into a lake? Especially if you were a childish mercenary by the name Bankotsu, this was something you could not let slide.

Seizing her shoulders, he squeezed as hard as he could, trying to break her bones. Mika wrapped her arms around his neck and attempted to strangle him. Both stood, locked together with menacing glances, trying to kill each other. Eventually, they released, sighing when they realized strangling and squeezing bones wasn't enough to bring down a human.

Bankotsu scratched his head. Falling onto the floor with an exasperated expression, he laid his head against the soft material of the futon and turned to Mika. "So, you're awake."

"I was sleeping?" she asked, feeling stupid for asking such an obvious question.

Bankotsu turned away when she mentioned the notion. Then after a prolonged silence: "I kind of… knocked you out. I don't think that qualifies as sleeping."

Wide-eyed, Mika rushed to the lake and examined her face. Surely enough, reflections showed that there were three bruises on her face and large red spots on her nose. _That little cheeky man with the braid and the sword… _She walked back into the room and sat next to Bankotsu. She glared at him and pointed to her injured face.

"Explain. Now," she demanded.

Bankotsu rolled his eyes. "I was trying to fix your ugly face. But I guess it got out of my hands. No amount of "fixing" will ever help you get a guy."

"SHUT UP! I AM NOT UGLY!"

"You must have been dropped when you were little. I noticed you have a strange bump on your head." He poked her forehead, grinning evilly as he did so. "Ah, what do you know? It may be horns!" His hand left and he sat up, feeling proud of his insulting remarks. "I always suspected you were a demon."

"STUPID BANKOTSU! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID! WELL YOU HAVE A WEIRD THING ON YOUR FOREHEAD TOO!" She slammed her index finger at the tattoo on his head. "WHAT THE HECK IS THE STAR FOR?"

"IT LOOKS COOL!"

"NO IT DOESN'T! IT LOOKS LIKE SOME BIRD TOOK A DUMP ON YOU!" She stifled a giggle.

"Why you—"

"Don't why me, Bankotsu! I don't know why I ever _dreamed_ of you!"

Bankotsu stopped chuckling and seized her shoulders once more. "Y-You dreamed of me too?"

Mika nodded. "You dreamt of me?"

"Getting pushed into the lake, yeah," he said, the smile returning to his face. He slapped the wooden floor as he laughed and shot his finger at Mika. "YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOUR FACE!"

Mika snatched his braid and pulled him over. "I really did! You were like… ten years old and you were lanky and lean!"

"I don't remember been lean or lanky!" He pulled up a sleeve and showed off his muscles. "I've always had these, ha ha!"

"And you were calling me "stupid", unfortunately…"

"I wish I could've been there," he said, dreamily.

"And I said something about Nagato," Mika said, continuing with her story.

"Oh, that must have been my girlfriend or something—WHAT?" He turned serious once more. "Did you see _her_?"

Mika shook her head. _Who is Nagato?_ "Um, no. Did you know her?"

Bankotsu played with his braid, avoiding Mika's eyes. "Maybe."

"MAYBE?"

"Um, I think I know someone named Nagato. The name's pretty familiar and I get the creeps whenever someone says that name. Sometimes I get mad."

"Why?"

Bankotsu poked her forehead without any intention of harm. "Zombie instinct. Now 'night, 'cause I'm tired."

But Mika had a feeling that he wanted to stay there and probe into what Mika had dreamt of.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The next morning, Mika awoke alone. The room was empty, save for her exhausted self. Angrily, she began to think that Bankotsu had left without her. He was that type of person. Stretching her sore muscles, she hurried and changed her heavy kimono garments to something lighter. Then, just as her hand touched the screen door, the door itself slid.

She took a step forward and bumped into someone. They both crashed into the hallway's wall. As the two rubbed heads and faced each other with testy looks, Mika realized that Bankotsu had not left yet. He was right there, in fact. He was the person she had bumped into.

"So you didn't leave," Mika said, faintly smiling.

"I was going to. I was just checking to see if you carried any coins you were hiding from me." He scratched his nose and looked at the ceiling. Mika frowned. For a zombie killer, he was being pretty honest. Maybe his heart was in the right place, but it was just his brain that was messed up. _I swear I'm going to fix him up. I'll give him the Mika treatment and he'll be sane in no time!_

"You're acting awfully bubbly now that you bumped into me," he noted.

"Well, I can't help it. We're friends!"

"No, we aren't. We aren't even on hugging terms!" Bankotsu shoved away the miko with his palm and started to get up. Mika clung to him like a magnet. She gave him her best Bambi eyes.

"WE CAN START HUGGING NOW!"

"ACK, NO! GET OFF OF ME!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

It took a while to get out of the manor. As they exited, Mika bowed several times to the warlord and apologized sincerely. The warlord himself was in a good mood and accepted it with a silent nod. Then the two quickly made their way around a mountain and came to a village. At first, while they were far away from the village, it was awfully quiet, yet when they neared, they could see business was bustling. The noise escalated. Children ran from side to side, begging their parents to buy treats for them.

One old man caught Mika's eye. He had an old blue urn that sat beside him, while he held out a stringy black outfit he claimed to have been made from the most flexible and toughest youkai hide. Because Mika's naiveté had not gone away entirely, she found herself strolling to his place and grinning at the old man.

"What have you got there, oji-san?" she addressed him politely. The old man beamed his missing teeth and pushed the material into her arms.

"Ah, _sore wa,_ magic stuff. You gotta try it on. It harnesses the youkai's youki, I tell you. A fabulous work and I'll only part it for free if you buy my other product." The old man knelt down and brought the urn up onto a rickety table. He brushed off the dust and blew off a spider that had made it as its home. Then he reached in and scooped up a handful of white dust. Mika noted that it had no scent.

"What's that?" she asked. By this time, Bankotsu, who had realized she was no longer at her side, began to come toward her direction in curiosity.

"Magic stuff," the old man repeated. "You heard of any _inu daiyoukais'_?"

Mika straightened as soon as she heard that title. _Sesshoumaru_, she thought and slapped herself to stop the memories from flooding in. At this moment, Bankotsu was right beside her, looking suspiciously at the material the old man was so proud of.

"I suppose so," she answered.

"Well, they smell very good. One sniff from their nose can tell them everything that had happened, whether it be an ant's death or a battle between two clans. But this stuff, this magic powder," the old man said, "will hide all that information. One pinch of this over your entire body will never let any daiyoukai discover your identity."

The miko remembered about the children she had to leave behind with Sesshoumaru. She wondered how they were doing.

"How do we know that's just not some crunched up human bones or salt," Bankotsu snapped. "Especially since this info is coming from an old fart like yourself."

"I got it from a youkai taijiya. He retired and has no use for this. And what purpose would this be for me?" The old man sighed and dropped the powder back into the urn. "You don't have to buy it, my young girl. I was just suggesting it."

The children. How big were they? Did they have some of Mika's features? Maybe Sesshoumaru's? Or perhaps, they didn't look anything like them at all. These questions were nagging her. She wanted to know. She wanted to hold _her _children in her arms. Even if Sesshoumaru denounced her from being their mother. Even if she was a human, a low, selfish, cowardly human!

"I'll take it," Mika said, determination fierce. "You can keep the change too."

Bankotsu glared at her, jaw open. "Hello, crazy girl to Earth? We need that for food!"

Mika punched his shoulder and returned his shock with _golden eyes_. "You can live on fish for one more week. Let's go."

The old man on the other hand, was thanking and bowing to Mika as much as he could as he wrapped up the items. As money and business was exchanged, Mika could only think of what she was planning to do.

And that was to retire from being a miko and get a job as a _ninja_.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Idiot," Bankotsu said. "Idiot, idiot, IDIOT." He spun around and stabbed a finger at Mika, but he only pointed at the air. He straightened and looked around. Mika was just walking with him a minute ago.

"_Konichiwa_," an imitation of a man voice said from the trees. "I am the noble ninja who will strip you of your possessions. Now hand it over."

Bankotsu slapped his head and peeked at the masked being before him. With one hand, he expertly pulled Mika onto the floor and ripped off the mask she was wearing. Then, he walked over her, making sure he stepped on her mouth and continued down the road without her.

Mika got back up, screaming insults and stomping her foot as she tried to catch up to him. After all, who would be happy if you got stepped on all over?

It wasn't long before they fell silent again. Still in the black costume she had purchased from the old man, Mika walked and walked and walked. They walked to the end of the mountain and to lakes they haven't seen before. They walked and walked and walked…

Just like the time Mika walked with Sesshoumaru.

And the more they walked, and walked, and walked, the more the warm tears pushing behind her eyes stung.

Yet they walked and walked and kept on walking, doing the same thing over and over.

Finally, she stopped. Bankotsu kept on walking. So it was true. The dead do walk longer than the living. Mika crossed her elbows and hugged herself.

She couldn't take it. She missed Sesshoumaru so much. She wanted to see his cold face, his manly pride. She wanted to feel his emotionless gaze on her and watch him take each stride with confidence. She loved him so. And would not stop.

_I will change and become wiser,_ she told herself. _I can't go back the way I am. Besides, he'd probably kill me if I do._

But she couldn't keep torturing herself like this, living life without the man she wanted to walk beside. It was Death all over again, the empty and breathless feeling in her throat. The darkness she had given to the Assassins long ago was cleaned when Sesshoumaru walked into her life.

Mika bit her lip and gasped. _Long ago…? I met Sesshoumaru… long ago? No way._ She smiled bitterly and started moving again. _I'm so delusional, I'm feeding myself dreams. You have to move on Mika. You have to…_

The tears rolled down her cheeks, but she quickly wiped them away. Again, as soon as she did so, another teardrop would fall down. Eventually, she used the sleeve of her kimono to press against her eyes and walked without looking what was in front of her. But her clothing could not suppress the sobs she was giving out. Soon, she fell to her knees and began to wail. She clawed at the earth and whispered Sesshoumaru's name. Oh, how she would do _anything_ _to see him again._

Hearing her and feeling agitated, Bankotsu turned around and knelt before the crying girl. "What's wrong with you now?"

Mika covered her face with her kimono. "I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore," she blubbered, trying to sound angry but her tears muffling the intent.

"Well, you didn't have to follow me."

"What am I supposed to do then?"

"I don't know, go home!" His voice rose. "God, I swear, you're such a baby. I'm not your dad and I'm not your friend!"

Mika cringed, as if he had struck her. Bankotsu, who had been scowling when he yelled immediately, felt a pang of guilt hit him. It was like the time when he had threatened his brothers with death if they wouldn't stop arguing. He remembered that even though they laughed it off, they seemed more hushed than before.

Scratching his head and scolding himself silently that he was becoming too soft, he patted her head. She pushed it away and turned around, refusing to face him. Bankotsu gritted his teeth and continued to muss his hair. He had always thought he had a way with girls, but it seemed that charming mikos with mood swings was a hard thing to do.

He crawled to the direction she was facing and continued to stare at her. Then, he tried to pat her head again. Her sobs ceased a bit. She lifted her head up. Her eyes were swollen and her face was red. Not very serene or priestess-like.

"Falling in love is a bad thing," she said.

Bankotsu's hand left her head, his mouth curving into a gentle smile. "I know."

"You've been in love before?"

"Ah…" He scratched his head again and tried to cover his face with one hand as his face turned a little red. "Sort of."

Mika instantly became interested. "Who?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to remember."

"Why not?"

"It's not a pleasant memory."

"Did you kill her or something?" Mika took one last wipe at her face before she leaned in closer. "Considering your brutal nature, it doesn't seem too off."

_It was more like she tried to kill me_, he thought. His eyes looked into hers. Tilting his head, he frowned.

"What?" she asked. "You're looking at me really closely."

"Have I met you before?"

Mika's expression became serious. She recalled her nightmares, _especially the one with the dark night and the paranoid boy._ She thought about the one with the motherly woman singing a lullaby to her. The dream she had today. Midoriko in her dream.

Most of all, what Ayumu had said to her. Riddles. Solve it. Bye.

Why was everything so puzzling? As she opened her mouth to answer, the ground shook. The sound of Rin screaming reached her ears.

And at that moment, she took the most insensible decision in the world. Meet Sesshoumaru, save Rin, and get killed. But hey, who said crybaby mikos with mood swings were sensible?

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**AN: Sorry for the late update. I was being lazy and wondering how I should end this episode. :D PLEASE REVIEW! (I'm begga ya~)**


	73. Episode 73

**AU: REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! PLEASE REVIEW (or criticize if you must) so that I KNOW SOMEONE IS READING THIS! (Other than Yuti-chan, who I give my thanks to because she/he is ALWAYS REVIEWING!) :D Okay, now enjoy the chapter.**

**With a cup of milk tea of course... ---(Reference to "The Tea Party", my other fan fic!)**

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Episode 73: That Girl

The ugly, brutally large men were hurting her. They were throwing sticks at her, pulling at her hair, tugging at the little tuft that she tied on top of her head. They jeered at her strange, worn out orange kimono and eyed the object she held in her arms. It was most certain that humans were scary. Sesshoumaru-sama was never like that.

But Rin was determined to protect the gossamer fabric she was holding onto so tightly. She believed, with a childish resolve that if she kept the transparent, cherry blossomed colored ribbon, Mika-san would come back. She would play games with her again and be funny.

The men hit her again. She shut her mouth, refusing to yell out Sesshoumaru-sama's name because she believed this was a way to prove that she, a young girl no older than seven could take care of herself. Well, this was not exactly true, because Jaken was there as well, doing his best to fend off these thieves. But men were greedy creatures. Once they saw something that could be exchanged for money, cash, they were going to get it no matter what.

And it was indeed something of great value. The ribbon was left behind somehow before Mika "died". The ribbon itself came from the green tresses of a goddess named Midorigami and if this information was leaked out, people from all over the world would be seeking Sesshoumaru's crew and the ribbon Rin was so preciously guarding. It would become quite troublesome.

Just imagine, holding an object a _goddess_ had given you. It was almost as if you had become a god yourself. The ribbon had magical properties, but Rin knew nothing of that. Her innocent, pure kid heart was taken by the illusion that this was just one of Mika's many and random possessions.

"Give it up kid, or I might just ask the horse to trample you!" the man threatened, pulling a sword out of a sheath. He waved it menacingly at the imp and Rin. Jaken immediately put himself between the two individuals. Using the Staff of Heads, he tried to make himself several times meaner than he was, but it was a futile attempt. The staff was a ghastly sight and Jaken was sadly, even more ghastly. In fact, the image of Jaken trying to protect Rin was laughable.

The sword was brought down.

Jaken blocked it, but the sword was already cutting through the wood. Bravely, he turned his head and implored Rin to run away. But she did not budge.

The sword started to saw through the staff. The man put pressure on his blade.

Then…

A figure donned in complete black, with the exception for the eyes that were not covered by the mask, jumped into the air and slammed a sturdy boot onto the cranium of the scum. As soon as the man was brought down and the figure on the floor, he (or Rin assumed it to be a he because the figure had no curves) kicked the other men's jaws and stole the blade from the fallen man. Then, with swift accuracy, the mysterious figure lopped off a good amount of hair from their scalps and pointed the blade at their nose. His golden eyes were enough to scare the non-existent squirrel pee out of them.

But it was enough to chase them away. And so they ran away, almost like how a dog runs away with its tail between its legs. All the while, the mysterious figure stood there until he finally decided to move toward Rin.

His face was covered by a black mask, his hair (did he have any?) tied up and covered by yet another black fabric that wrapped around his head like towel. He wore gauntlets of silver and sturdy boots that were white. Around his neck was a lighter hue of black scarf, flittering in the wind like the laundry people put out on strings to dry.

However, just as he took two more steps, a sword that belonged to none other than Sesshoumaru was thrust at his face. It missed by a few inches and hit the scarf instead. As the pieces fell, the black donned figure raised his hand. He ran his finger along the smooth edge of Tenesiga, seemingly stroking the holy blade gently. Then, when his index finger reached the central ridge, he seized the sword and flung the blade and its holder over him, like an obstacle.

When Sesshoumaru stood firm once more, the black figure stared at him intently. Rin noticed the figure had been staring at him only, with cold yet serious golden eyes. The black figure stared… and then turned to walk away. Rin heard Sesshoumaru's foot move forward, his mind probably discussing whether to follow this mysterious figure or not.

As soon as the black figure was very far in the distance, Sesshoumaru spoke. His words were strange, almost alien. They were, "I smell nothing on him. It's as if he had no scent, but he was there."

It was strange because Sesshoumaru could smell anything. Even hatred; but the figure was emotionless.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Assassins _were_ supposed to be emotionless. After what seemed like two years (Mika assumed) of assassin work and stealthy movement, letting no aura out was easy. Though when Sesshoumaru had come, she was so sure that she would be found out and killed. But instead, Sesshoumaru could not identify her and her golden irises did not give away anything.

Mika continued to walk, forcing herself to slow down because she knew Sesshoumaru had not followed her. She realized that she was starting to learn how to control the power she once used so mirthlessly and callously. She wondered if she would ever be tempted to use to achieve world domination. Chuckling at the thought, she began to hear footsteps.

Then, it all came back to her. She was with Bankotsu, wasn't she? Hurriedly, she pulled off her mask and turban, hoping that Sesshoumaru was still confused about what had happened and wound not catch her scent and started pacing toward Bankotsu's footsteps.

It wasn't long until she saw the familiar cheeky face of the corpse mercenary. With a warm tone, she greeted him and pulled him in the direction of the village, complaining that she was hungry.

The truth was, with her heart still racing, food was something she'd rather put off until the next day.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The village was bustling. It seemed that all the villages they ran into were. However, the only difference was instead of children that made the place seem lively, it was the amount of women and men that made it look joyous. The bright lanterns that the townsfolk had strung from pole to pole indicated a festival.

Stomach growling, Mika forgot all about Sesshoumaru and started to think about food. Mainly, fluffy lukewarm rice topped with a few fried pickles and sweet chicken thighs. Without warning, she started to water at the mouth and chew on Bankotsu's braid. Of course, he got angry and started to eat her hair too.

Some of the townsman laughed and invited them to join them in their feasting. Complying, they jumped to the seats nearest to the juiciest food and ate till they got tired of it. When Mika started to panic about the money, they shrugged it off by flinging the sake bottle in the air and chugging it down with one gulp.

Mika clapped appreciatively, while Bankotsu smiled smugly at the men. When they saw his expression, they became daring.

"What's with that expression?" Another gulp.

Bankotsu crossed his arms. "I can drink more bottles than you."

The miko/assassin tried to imagine a drunken Bankotsu. The image she got was a shorter version of him, swinging his sword madly and falling into a lake. It made her guffaw. Bankotsu paid no attention though and continued with his bet.

"Well? How about it?"

The man nodded without hesitation. He must have thought due to Bankotsu's short stature and childish features that he would win anytime. "I'll give you guys free lodging and free service for the entire week if you win. Let's see… ten bottles."

Mika let her mouth hang. Even for a corpse, ten bottles of sake was enough to get you wired on the first sip. She tugged on his sleeve. "Hey…"

Bankotsu winked at her. "Just watch."

She wondered if he was going to cheat the guy or something. Considering he killed people, maybe it wasn't so off. She poked him. "Are you going to cheat?"

"No, why would I?" His face was of genuine honesty. _Well, it is hard to imagine this moron trying to pour the sake somewhere while he's not looking. But still… ten bottles… TEN BOTTLES…!_

"Ready?" the man asked, holding the sake bottle.

Bankotsu nodded. Instantly, a girl around their age popped up. She had light brown hair that was cut short enough to shaggily sit above her shoulders. She was dressed in a black yukata decorated with red flowers and green plants. With one glance, Mika could tell that she wasn't all Japanese. But it didn't really matter to Bankotsu, who grabbed the sake bottle she presented him right away.

At the mark of three, the two began gulping it down. The man who had already drunk too much was starting to become woozy at a fast rate. Before he even finished half of the sake bottle, the man slammed it down and glared at Bankotsu, who was cleverly drinking it slowly and maybe not even drinking it at all.

"What's wrong? Giving up already?" Bankotsu taunted.

The man shook his head, trying to ignore the echoing in his ears. He picked up the bottle again and started chugging it down. His friends started to chant his name, while Bankotsu finished his bottle. The girl immediately served him another one, which he took and held to his lips slowly, waiting for the man to pummel over.

And the more patient Bankotsu was, the more likely he was to win. By the end of the second round, the man had a quarter of sake left in the first bottle he could not drink up. Grudgingly, he let out an alcoholic sigh and waved his hand. "Ugh… I can't win. Take them to their rooms."

The girl wearing the black yukata who had served them the sake looked uncertain. "Are you sure? After all…" She turned to Bankotsu, eying him suspiciously.

Bankotsu looked away, scowling at the fact that it was this hard for the girl to accept defeat of her boss.

All of a sudden, the girl's frown softened. In fact, she seemed rather shier than before. Her face became redder and she turned away, nodding sheepishly at her boss before she gestured to them to follow her. As they entered a hotel she worked at, Mika noticed that the girl glanced at Bankotsu often as they arrived at their rooms. Did she perhaps, catch on that this was a corpse walking among the living…?

The girl stopped at a room with two large screen doors blocking entrance. The screen doors were made out of sturdy, but soft paper that let no shadows from inside of the room come out. With a warm smile, she opened these screen doors and directed them inside. They all walked in, examining the spacious area, the nicely chosen furniture such as a tiny wardrobe and a mirror to one side, and two futons laid neatly next to each other in a corner of the room.

But that was the problem.

One room. Two futons. Bankotsu was clearly aware of that.

He pointed at them. "What are those?"

The girl was still smiling. "Why, those are futons sir."

"No, I meant why are there two?"

The girl's smile faded. She turned around, biting her nails and twiddling her thumbs. Her face turned beet red as she realized a mistake in what she had done. She spun around again, the distressed expression gone and the professionalism back. "Forgive me good sir. I was under the impression that you two were siblings." She tilted her head slightly to the side, lowering her eyelashes and giving off a gentler aura. "After all, you two look alike."

Mika felt as if the girl had said that intentionally, to tease her, to harm her mentally, even though the girl truly did not know that they were unrelated. It made her shiver to think of sleeping in a futon in the same room, let alone _right beside him._

Bankotsu, on the other hand, was going to strangle this girl for trying to make a connection to the stupid miko standing next to him. They both had nothing in similar, save for their quarrelling quirks. In fact, if they were born in the same womb, Bankotsu would've eaten Mika and spit her remains back out if they were related.

When they were finished grimacing, they both charged at the girl and grabbed her collar, screaming: "WE ARE NOT SIBLINGS!"

The girl simply shrugged off their hands and walked over to the futon. Calmly, she rolled one up and walked back to the entrance. She bowed. "I have fixed the problem now."

"Huh?" they asked in unison.

"Why, aren't you two wife and husband?"

Mika and Bankotsu fell backwards, hitting their heads on the wooden floor. No one could describe how broken their prides were. No one could describe how terrifying the "what if" images flying into their brains were. It was bad to think that they were blood relatives, but husband and wife? Together romantically for life?

For Mika, she would've rather run up to Sesshoumaru without a disguise and laugh as Sesshoumaru stabbed her mercilessly.

For Bankotsu, he would've rather be killed by a half-breed by the name Inuyasha a thousand times to avoid being _married_ to Mika!

"N… no way. W…"

They didn't even have the energy to stutter that the girl was all wrong. And the girl herself was not very bright. The silence assured her that she had done her job right. With one final bow, she excused herself, and walked away. As Bankotsu and Mika fought to get through the door, they realized that the last chance to get rooms as far away as possible from each other was gone.

~O~O~O~O~O~

After an hour of sitting in a room of depressing ambiance, the girl wearing the black yukata slid the doors open, professional smile still existent on her face. The two individuals, Bankotsu and Mika, turned to look at her from their corners.

"Good lady and sir, I would like to inform you that the hot springs are ready to be used. I have the necessary items, such as towels and a bath yukata ready down there for you. May I have you register your names into our book before going?"

Mika beamed at the thought of being able to wash off all the grit and bugs she had been carrying for too long. Then, she imagined having to bathe with Bankotsu. Screaming, she grabbed at the girl's sandals.

"Separate hot springs for each gender, right?"

The answer was what she was praying for.

"Yes, my good lady. But before we do anything else, please, sign your name here." The girl held out a worn out paper. Mika nodded and took the brush from her fingers, hurriedly signing her name in a rush. She then handed it to Bankotsu, who seemed to be worried about something.

"What's the matter? Sign your name," Mika said.

Ignoring her, Bankotsu glanced at the girl. Their eyes met for an instant, before Bankotsu let out a nervous chuckle. "Ah, the day came!"

"What?" Mika asked, obviously confounded.

"I don't remember how to write my name! In fact, all I remember is this—" he said, cutting off his own sentence to write down a character or two. When he was done, he turned away, scratching at his head anxiously. The girls peeked at the paper and read his "name".

"…Sugoi-san, is it?"

Mika seized the paper and the brush. "What? Why are you lying? I'll write your name for you."

"A-ah, uh—" Bankotsu stuttered, but it was too late. The hostess read the paper once more.

"Okay, Tako-kun and Mika-san, this way."

Smiling gleefully, Mika and Bankotsu skipped their way to the bathhouse. Or rather, it was Mika who was skipping and Bankotsu who was cursing Mika for putting "octopus" as his name and not "awesome".

~O~O~O~O~O~

As the girl left them standing before two screen doors that went off into the women's hot spring and the men's hot spring, Mika felt Bankotsu's studying stare. Getting shivers, she turned around.

"What's wrong now?"

"I was wondering if I could go into the women's bathhouse instead."

Mika's face became red. _Men… they're all the same. _"I'll kill you before you take one step into the springs."

"But my hot spring probably has old men inside ONLY."

The miko stuck out her tongue and pulled a towel from one of the baskets. "Too bad for you."

Eying her viciously, Bankotsu entered the men's hot spring without looking back. Peace at last, Mika went into her respective room and slipped out of her clothes. Then, her skin already feeling the steam escaping through the cracks of the screen door, she ran into the hot spring. With one giant leap, she submerged underwater and came back up when she realized the water was scalding.

She screamed. Then she relaxed when she saw a rose petal float by. Laying against the rocks and putting her arms around them, she let the water surround her body and soak into her bones. _I could sleep here,_ she thought and was about to grab some soap when she saw a long shadow. Shrieking, she fell back into the water.

"Ara, don't be afraid. We're just here to enjoy the hot springs as well." The voices were female. Sighing in relief as she rose from the water, she opened her eyes. She immediately went back into the water when she saw who they were though.

"Ara, ara, why are you going back in? We're just old women who need soaking."

Mika rose enough to the surface to see the women. The steam was so thick however, only their chubby lips and badly pinned up hair could be seen. _I actually kind of feel safer if it was Bankotsu…_

"Oh my," one of the extremely thin woman said. She swam over to Mika and grabbed her shoulders. "You have nice skin."

Mika blushed, wondering if this woman was going to do anything to her. "Um, thank you."

The other woman came by and seized her hair, rubbing it against her cheek. "Wow, your hair is SO silky. What do you do to make it so silky, huh?"

"Uh…"

The bigger boned woman grabbed her hand. She brushed across it and compared it to hers. The older woman frowned and then smiled at Mika. "You're SO LUCKY. I have ugly hands."

Three other women started to examine her face. "You know, if you put on some rogue, you'd attract all the boys in town. I'll help you after we're done."

Mika shook her head and tried to make the woman holding her hair release her grip. "Uh, no thank you. I'm only staying here temporarily." She retreated outside of the water and had her back against the wooden fence. Her eyes located her towel, which was sadly, a few yards away. The women followed her out of the water.

"Oh, don't be such an oldbag. Let us experienced women find you a good man! After all, you want to do "it" soon, huh?"

_I lost "it" to a very "good man" already! Besides, why are they talking about such inappropriate topics?_ "No, I have to go, now!"

"Aw, stay with us longer!"

"Yeah, stay with us! We'll give you all the tips that will make you gleaming!"

"Stay, stay, stay, stay!"

Groaning, Mika shut her eyes and held her arms in front of herself for protection as the women crowded her the way people crowd a precious bar of gold.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Peeking out of the lodging house, Kagome and Inuyasha watched the villagers melt. Blood seeped out of their eyes, while the flower scent became stronger and stronger by the minute. Kagome gasped, waking up a serious looking Miroku, who had already pulled out his fudas. With one throw, the fudas landed where the mysterious villagers stood, electrifying the area.

When the smoke subsided, they rushed out, feeling something soft beneath their feat. Human faces popped out of the dirt—no, the dirt itself was human flesh!

All of a sudden, a man wearing noble clothes popped out. No youki came from him, nothing except the flowers. As soon as he did so, Sango collapsed into Miroku's arms, murmuring "Kohaku, Kohaku"…

Then, vines sprouted from the ground to grab Miroku, who immediately stabbed them, afraid of what to come to his body. The man smiled, saying, "Poor girl, who doesn't know where her brother is. And you, who is so afraid of death… If only you succumbed to the flowers, would you see the contentment I offer."

As hostile as ever, Inuyasha gave him not a second left to speak and unleashed his Kaze no Kizu at the man. Of course, the man disappeared, his lips smacking as if the suffering of people were his nourishment.

_Nourishment… suffering. _Instantly, the death of Kikyo rushed into everyone's minds. The one who held the most pain right now, who was about to keel over was Inuyasha. And this man wearing the noble clothes—

"I'll go after him alone!" Inuyasha began to sheath Tessaiga and started to turn.

"No, Inuyasha, wait!" Kagome screamed. But Inuyasha still went ahead, despite Kagome's cries. Knowing that the only way to stop him was to follow, Miroku handed Kagome a talisman bracelet, nodded toward her for good luck and watched her run after the hasty hanyou.

They arrived at a castle, where the man was already waiting, unwounded and smiling. "Your heart," he said. "It's terribly cut. Why don't you let me embrace your deteriorating soul?"

The flowers Inuyasha stood on became crimson. Growling, Inuyasha tried to claw off the vines that constricted his movement. But the man, which the villagers outside were wailing "Kaou" continued on. "The woman you loved more than anything else in the world… you want to die to follow her, don't you?"

The vines pulled him down. More vines surrounded Kagome, trying to touch her, trying to creep into her soul. But the talisman did its magic. The vines melted as soon as they got close to her.

But the sadness, the jealousy that Kagome sometimes felt for Kikyo was there. It brought out the painful tears from inside her. However, this was no time to cry. She had to find Inuyasha! Wiping them away, she tried to breach the castle only to get pushed back. She shot an arrow at the castle. The building still stood.

All of a sudden, Inuyasha's shadow appeared. He had his fist stuck inside Kaou's stomach. But the evil demon wasn't dead yet. With tentacles sprouting from his body, he thrust them into Inuyasha's chest. Seeing this, Kagome tugged her bracelet off and tied it around the arrow, aiming it at the castle.

As soon as Inuyasha was released, he could now clearly see Kagome. Leaping to her side, he desperately began to shove aside the vines trying to make her cry blood. And deep, deep black blood it was, full of pain that exceeded Inuyasha's… or so Kaou thought.

With vigor that should not have existed, Kagome forced her eyes to open and shoot an arrow at where Kaou was hiding. The flowers disappeared, leaving only the fake flowered scent and the silent gazes Kagome and Inuyasha gave each other.

"How boring. Unlike his brother, he doesn't even kiss his girl or anything. He's not strong either. That Kaou guy was a weakling too. Hmmph, to be pulled down by the past. He's so weak," Tsurugi mumbled as she jumped into the void that Garando had created for her.

Garando shook his head. "Do not talk so much. Inuyasha is a dog hanyou. He will hear you."

Patting her bun, she stuck her tongue at Garando. "Yeah, yeah. Let's tell this to _Naraku _and_ Kanna_, shall we?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

Supposedly, there was a light in the forests, in the lake when the sun set. Curious, the Inuyasha gang had checked it out. When they arrived, there was a mirror… a mirror that belonged to a white girl who was detached from Narku named Kanna. However, Kanna was nowhere to be seen. Instead, when they saw the mirror, a being came out, like a spider climbing out of its webs to feast.

And like the spider, Kanna popped out of the forest and directed the mirror demon at Inuyasha. And of course, Inuyasha used his signature move: Kaze no Kizu. But when Tessaiga hit the floor, nothing came out. Instead, the monster raised his hand and gripped a sword. Namely… a replica of Tessaiga.

They clashed. And every time they clashed, the more injured Kanna became. Noticing this, Kagome opened her mouth to try and talk some sense into Naraku's silent and emotionless puppet…

All of a sudden, Byakuya appeared beside Kanna. Following him was Iken, the man with platinum blonde hair and orange earrings. As usual, he wore no shirt. Only Sango was aware of their presence, because she just happened to look away at that moment. She touched Hiraikotsu, ready to attack if she spotted any signs of hostility.

But Iken was whispering something to Byakuya. It went something like "this intel will be useful to Naraku"…

Byakuya was interested. "Oh, so what about this _girl_?"

Iken shrugged. "She might be another weak spot for Sesshoumaru."

"Ah, is that so? Hmm… did you hear that, Naraku?" Kagura's replacement nodded, as if Naraku was there. But he wasn't; only his ears were. The ears were all inside Kanna and Byakuya's heads, hearing every thought they wanted him to hear. He could direct orders to them if he so wished.

But strangely, he was as silent as can be. At least, in Byakuya's head. In Kanna's, he was urging her to commit a suicidal attack at Inuyasha.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Ahhhhhh," Bankotsu sighed, cracking his knuckles and relieving those sore bones by twisting his arm. "That bath was the best."

All the while he sighed about his hour in the bathhouse, the door to their hotel room slid open. In came a red faced Mika, her robe tightly wrapped around her as if she was bitterly cold. As she kicked the door closed, she sat on her bottom and crossed her arms, trembling. Curious, Bankotsu crawled over to her side and waved a hand before her. Mika did not respond.

He laid back, turning his head away, not caring what she had gone through, when all of a sudden she asked about his time in the bath. Immediately, he smiled and began to brag.

"Well, there weren't any old men in there for sure. Instead, there were these girls in there. And they massaged my shoulders and legs." He paused to reminiscence about it. "Oh yeah, and they were good-looking, unlike you," he added.

Insults are often good ways to pull a distressed person back to reality, especially with people like Inuyasha and Mika. And the insult about Mika not being as "hot" as the girls that massaged Bankotsu's bones was enough to make Mika snap.

"Hmph!" she replied.

"So, how was your time?" When Mika ignored him for the second time, he gave her a sly smile and nudged her shoulder with his finger. "You got stuck with old ladies, didn't you?"

"No I didn't!" she shouted, reaching out to punch him when he widened his eyes and slapped her hand away. Surprised, she stood there awkwardly, staring at him.

The last time Bankotsu had given such a dramatic reaction was a pretty long while back. He had tried to kill everyone, only to fail and walk away. He was mad… his face black with fury and revenge. But this time, Bankotsu's eyes were big and scared, like a little boy who witnessed his parents getting massacred. It was the look of paranoia, of one who is insecure with his surroundings.

Bankotsu wasn't the type to be afraid of things. Especially the girl he tried to kill, but failed. He, a great killer when he was alive, was now afraid to take a life. Why…?

With a gasp of air, Bankotsu scratched his head and tried to shrug off what had happened with a weak chuckle. The laughter sounded so sad, so empty. Like an imitation… Then Mika gasped too. Wasn't that what Bankotsu was? An imitation of his former self? One who could no longer laugh freely…?

"Are you cold?" she asked, feeling sympathy that Bankotsu probably would have rejected.

Kneeling, she wrapped her arms around him. He jumped at her touch and grabbed her wrists, then stopped. He tried to say no, but it wouldn't come out. It was sort of comforting to have someone with real blood running through their veins to hug him. She was so warm, her scent fresh and clean, her hair not tickling him.

Then, this bubbly ambiance was disrupted when a loud sound resonated through the hall outside their hotel room. Instantly, Mika's protective arms left him and she stood against the door. She could hear people screaming and the thundering sound of feet pounding against the floor in panic. She faced Bankotsu once more, who stood up as well, utterly confused.

She walked by him. "Don't turn around," she ordered.

"H-Huh? What?"

"I'm changing, you dummy!" A few minutes passed. The noise of tightening straps and then she was done. "All right, where's the kitchen?"

Bankotsu spun around and found himself face to face with an unknown figure. Clad in black and with a mask over her mouth and a black turban that covered her hair, Mika was completely different from the girl who embraced him before. "What do you need the kitchen for?" he questioned.

"Hello, that's where the knives are. I need weapons, you know. And you won't let me borrow Banryuu anyway…"

"Never," Bankotsu spat. "You wouldn't be able to hold it anyway."

Exiting their room, the two slipped by the crowds and into the kitchen. The cooks and maids were all huddled in a corner, begging for Kami-sama's mercy. Pretending as if they didn't exist, Mika just went around the pans and pots, banging knives against the counter to test for sharpness. Bankotsu waited by the door, impatiently, Banryuu tucked in his right arm.

"Why don't you grab a random one? They're all the same," he said.

Mika shook her head. "My _youki_ won't fit."

"Huh? Youki? Don't youkai only have that?" He scratched his chin. "Well, you do look like a youkai anyway—"

"I HAVE SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES, UNLIKE YOU," she snapped and seized a large Chinese chef's knife. She transferred some of golden youki that she had remembered how to use into the blade. It instantly became lighter, glowing with a strange, wicked aura. She grabbed a similar one and rushed out of the door.

_Weird choice of knives, _Bankotsu thought as he followed her.

When they arrived outside, the entire town was in flames. Youkai, the size of colossal buildings were attacking everything in sight. As Mika ran faster, closer to the scene, she gasped. These weren't just youkai… _they were dragons_. And dragons loved the flesh of daiyoukais (or half-breeds)… to which she had given birth many weeks ago.

Why did they come to this village? Did they know she was here and wanted to eat her? Or did they have another agenda? Mika reviewed the facts about dragons as she leaped over a fallen building. According to their last encounter, the dragons were in cahoots with the assassins of Dream.

"Mika, hurry up!" Bankotsu shouted.

"Huh?" Mika blinked several times before she realized that she had slowed to a jog and that Bankotsu was already a few yards ahead of her. "R-Right!"

Just then, the dragons stopped making their beastly noises and unholy destruction. They held their scaly snouts to the air and took a deep sniff. They caught the scent of perfume. No, it wasn't perfume. The scent they had smelled was Mika's!

"GRAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!" they cried. With another giant roar, they slapped their tails against the floors and rose to the sky, searching for the source of her scent.

At that moment, Mika grinned. She motioned to Bankotsu to follow her into the forests, where she pushed him into a bush. Then, she pulled out the bag of white powder that she had gained from the man. She spread it through her arms, face, legs, and everywhere else that could give off a scent. At once, Mika's perfume-like smell disappeared without a trace.

Stunned, the dragons hovered over the forest, breathing flames and giving off foul aromas. They bellowed as they checked between the leaves for a smidgen of her scent, looking for her very existence. But they were so focused; they didn't see Mika tie a red string she had extracted out of nowhere (possibly stolen from the kitchen and stashed into her sleeve) to the knife. They didn't witness her swing the string around in circles, her steely gold eyes aimed at them.

And they were most certainly unaware of the deadly youki she had wrapped around the knife she had planned to throw at them!

With a throw that should have been recorded in a Japanese version of the Guinness Book of Records, the knife flew straight as an arrow at the dragons. The sharp end struck the softer side of the hide, digging deep into their flesh and drawing out painful shrieks from within their throats.

But she wasn't finished. Yelling, Mika dragged the knife to the side, the youki slicing the being in half. As the dragon fell down, she ran toward it and used the dying corpse as a stepping stone. She started to gather energy into her string by spinning it again, aiming for the second, stupid dragon who had not realized the death of his comrade.

She flung it straight and true at the dragon. As it neared its snout, however, a tail coiled around her neck and choked her back. The string fell, the youki disappeared, and her air passage was blocked.

"_Konichiwa_, Mika-chan," Ryuuichi greeted.

Mika's hands let go of the string as she brought them to the tail that was suffocating her.

"Oh, don't try to remove it. As soon as you bring my tail away from your neck, you will have lost your arms." His stale breath was warm on her neck. "Who are you thinking about right now? That corpse boy that was with you? Are you?"

Mika shut her eyes and tried to swallow. He was crushing her throat, blocking the blood that was trying to rush to her brain, turning her face pale. In that situation, she couldn't even remember who Bankotsu was. But he was forcing her to remember… but why?

"He's sort of in a reunion thing right now. Do you want to meet _her_? The girl he's talking to right now?"

She shook her head and tried to kick at Ryuuichi.

"It would be nice wouldn't it? I bet that's what Ayumu wanted you to do. Meet new people." The dragon seized her hair and pushed her head toward the floor so that she could see the activity below them. "Do you see him? Do you see him and that wonderful, beautiful girl? You do, don't you?"

She did. She saw Bankotsu and that girl.

Her eyes widened. _That girl_, she thought. _Why is he emphasizing on "that girl" so much? What about that girl? What is so important about "that girl"?_

"Are you feeling angry, Mika-chan?" he asked.

_That girl…_

_That girl's always with Bankotsu. She never lets me see him. She's always hugging him, over him, bragging about him. I hate "that girl". _

_That girl… she should die. That girl should go away forever._

The memories hit her head like how Ryuuichi would strike her with his claws. She finally realized who "that girl", "that girl" Bankotsu was talking with right now.

_That girl is __**Nagato**__._


	74. Episode 74

Episode 74: The Jealous Truth

"_Neh, Mika-chan." Nagato spun around, her light brown locks glimmering from the sunlight. Her father was a foreigner and Nagato had inherited that amazing brown hair. _

_Nagato was truly a beauty. She was only thirteen, but she was already developing parts of the body that was deemed attractive. Her waist was thin and her legs long. She was also much taller than lanky Mika. Today, Nagato was wearing a plain blue yukata that brought out the brown in her eyes. _

_As Mika spun around, she thought about how beautiful Nagato was. Then she thought about herself and almost pouted from disgust. She was skinny, but that made her look like a stick. She was thirteen too, but she hadn't developed anything. Her hair was messily tied with a ribbon that always, always came off. The clothes she wore were plain, like Nagato, but they didn't suit Mika's hazel-like eyes. She looked like an overgrown ten-year old, unwanted, and ugly. _

_Nagato was holding another blue outfit in her hands. It was a darker hue than what Nagato was wearing, but Mika had a feeling Nagato would still look stunning in it. There were green stalks decorated in the background, with one lonely crane standing in the center. It was for sale and the price was pretty cheap for such an appealing kimono._

"_It looks cute," Mika chirped, sounding like an animated doll only there to repeat what Nagato probably was thinking. _

"_I think it would look great on you too," Nagato said, trying to reassure Mika. But her uncertain smile hurt her more than comforting her. After all, Nagato knew best that blue wasn't Mika's color. It was too serious—too exquisite for her camouflaging presence. _

_Just then, the object of affection for Nagato came running by. He was sweating and practically pulling everyone's attention by screaming. But that was Bankotsu and no one could change this boyish teenager into someone respectable. It was the sort of thing that made him so popular with girls. It was also the thing that made Nagato so in _love_ with him._

_Once again, as Nagato greeted Bankotsu and showed him the kimono she was so fixated about, Mika was hidden by the crowd of the busy village they had come to tour. Several times during their lively chatter she tried to join, but she found no courage even though her urge was strong. It was only when Bankotsu happened to look her way and grinned at her. He waved, acting as if she hadn't been there all along._

"_Oi, Mika, what are you standing in the corner for?" He leaped before her and put his hands on his knees, making Mika feel so much younger than she really was. Mika really was short._

_Bankotsu was tall, she supposed, but Nagato still towered over all of them. He had a really adorable face, probably something he would never get out of. He was also lazy, especially when it came to his hair. His mother had always fussed about it, telling him to get the entire thing lopped off, but he had refused with the same fierceness. He was also stubborn, childish, and physically strong._

_Those very same reasons gave him so much life, gave him so much brightness to everyday routine. He was something Mika would never get close to. Not even an inch. Nevertheless, she gave him her strongest smile and said, "I was only accompanying Nagato-chan. She wanted to get a kimono for the festival…"_

_His eyes darkened. He straightened and looked back in the direction of where their village was. "I don't think there's going to be one. Everyone's… you know."_

_Mika continued to smile. "Well, I don't know. I mean, they always hold it each year. Why stop because of a "curse"?"_

_He nodded. Then he spun around, as if he didn't even remember about his sad village. "You should get a kimono too!"_

"_Huh?"_

"_It'll be nice to see you wearing something different. I mean, come on," he said, stabbing her stomach and running away. "You're a girl!"_

_Mika covered her stomach and started laughing because she was extremely ticklish, trying to regain her composure so she could chase after Bankotsu, but she knew. She knew that once she looked up, Bankotsu would be in the distance, Nagato following his heels like a puppy._

_She would never admit it, but she hated them. She hated her best friends for always being so happy, then paranoid, then lovey-dovey the next moment. They never really thought about her, remembered about her. She was just there._

_Just there. Who would've known those two words could be the key to Mika's mental destruction? But Mika had found the cure, found something that could keep her stable._

_She turned around, glancing at the forest. There was a white object in the far away distance. Mika knew what that was. Or, to be exact, _who_ that was._

"_Sesshoumaru," she whispered and started after her two friends._

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"No," Mika murmured. She let her head hang as Ryuuichi lessened his grip around her neck.

"Finally remember? It took you a while," he said. His dragon scales pinched her skin as he adjusted his hold.

"No, no, no, NO!" she screamed. "I refuse to remember."

"It's too late. You know already, right?"

Mika kicked him in the shins and started falling toward Bankotsu and the shadow. She wanted someone to hold her and tell her that she didn't have to listen to any of this. She wanted so many things… yet she couldn't get any of them. Suddenly, she felt Ryuuichi grab her again.

"Don't run away Mika. I want you to watch this," he said, his words feeling like slime. It might as well been, because she felt the hungry drool on her neck.

"Do you feel that, Mika? I'm hungry too and I'm doing my best to not eat you. So I think you should be good or you'll be one-armed too—like Sesshoumaru," he added. Mika heard his evil snicker as her heart continued to pound. It always did now when she heard Sesshoumaru's name. But either way, she was curious. Her eyes looked at Bankotsu below her.

Bankotsu was standing still before someone. He looked determined and even a bit angry. She noticed he was gripping his sword extremely hard, as if he was anxious about something. Or maybe it was a quirk.

The girl standing before him was the very same girl that had served them sake. Her shoulders were quivering as if rain was showering on them right now. But her mouth, which was upturned into a smile said otherwise. She was happy… to see Bankotsu.

"Bankotsu," she said. "I knew it was you."

Bankotsu continued to scowl. "I don't know you." Firm and simple. He did not know her.

But the girl, Nagato, ran into him, wrapping her arms around him. She tightened and began to cry tears that were supposed to soften men's hearts. In a way, it was heart-breaking. Maybe to ordinary viewers.

However, to Mika, it was making her jealous. It wasn't that she had some sudden crush for Bankotsu. It was just the fact that Nagato was able to find the person she loved so many years ago and was able to hug them without having to fear about being sliced to pieces. If Mika were to do the same thing to Mika, heck, maybe she wasn't even going to be sliced into mincemeat. Sesshoumaru wasn't nice enough. He'd probably send her to the Underworld, burn her in a volcano, and then slice her. Afterwards, he might enjoy some Mika stew or Mika steak.

She shivered and suddenly felt stronger. It was actually quite funny to think of herself as dinner. Mika never saw Sesshoumaru eat and just imagining him holding chopsticks was hilarious.

Ryuuichi, on the other hand, was quite surprised to find Mika still intact and not yelling her head off because she wasn't able to achieve happiness with her lover. So they stayed in the air, watching Bankotsu trying to pull Nagato away from his personage, silent and observational.

Then, when Ryuuichi couldn't stand it anymore, he leaned in beside Mika's ear and took a peek at her face. It was covered by the mask, so he pulled it down and found Mika trying to stifle a laugh.

"W-What's so funny?"

Mika began to kick and slap his scaly arms. That was it. She couldn't hold in the laughter anymore. But she also didn't know why it was so funny. Maybe it was Bankotsu's childish and bright influence. Either way, Mika felt pretty happy that Nagato was able to meet Bankotsu once again.

Only, why was Bankotsu so persistent with the fact that he didn't know Nagato? Mika remembered the conversation they before—something about who he liked…

Then again, what was she doing, being the obedient captive of a ravenous dragon? Remembering that she was in the process of escaping, she released her golden youki. Instantly, Ryuuichi let her go. The once assassin began to plummet, heading right into the hugging couple. Of course, when you're yelling at someone hugging another, you would look up and yell too. Which was exactly what Bankotsu did.

"YOUIDIOTDON'TFALLONMEORI'LLKILLYOU—" were his last words before Mika slammed right on top of Nagato and Bankotsu's head.

As they recovered from the painful fall, Bankotsu seized Mika's neck and began to shake her back in forth.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO FALL ON ME!"

Mika retorted right away, trying to counter Bankotsu's illogical request. "WELL, TELL ME EXACTLY HOW I CAN CHANGE DIRECTION IN MID-AIR!"

Bankotsu grinned, closing his eyes in agitation and bringing Banryuu over. "Why, just let me fix your limbs for you!" He took a swipe at Mika's head but she dodged right away and backed up against a tree.

"Hey, didn't you want to fly? I'm trying to help you! So stay still!" Bankotsu flung Banryuu at Mika again. Mika leaped up into the air, her golden youki levitating her.

"You liar! You just want to carve me up! Sadist!"

"Shut up! You're the one who keeps coming onto me!"

Mika growled at him, baring her teeth at him like a wolf does when he encounters prey. "ME? Why would I COME onto YOU?"

"Well," Bankotsu said, pausing and rubbing his chin, imitating the process of thinking. "It's obviously because I'm very handsome and charming—"

"OH YOU'RE BEYOND HANDSOME AND CHARMING, TOTALLY!" Mika landed on the floor and pulled out her Chinese chef knife. "JUST TRY TO KILL ME!"

"Oh, I'd BE GLAD TO GRANT THAT WISH! Take—" Bankotsu started to say, when Nagato wrapped her arms around him again.

"Ah, Bankotsu, your smell is so wonderful!" The brown-haired girl began to rub her cheek against Bankotsu's blue armor. All the while, Bankotsu shivered at her touch and screamed like a little girl.

But before Mika and Bankotsu could continue on with their little skirmish, Ryuuichi transformed into his true form, a great dragon. His mass almost crushed the nearby town Nagato had worked in and destroyed the many forests surrounding the entire area. He let his breath out at where Mika and the others were standing. Immediately, the horrible stench of his breath melted the surroundings and began to form as humid, scorching droplets on their arms.

"W-What's this?" Nagato exclaimed, letting go of Bankotsu and looking at her boiling arms.

Mika rubbed her itchy arm against the tree. "Don't ask me!"

Bankotsu on the other hand, simply brushed some dirt off his sword. The hot evaporated saliva didn't bother him one bit. When Banryuu was clean, he jumped into the sky without notice to the other girls and hacked at Ryuuichi, one, two, three times before he fell back onto the floor.

"…How… did you…" The dragon moaned as he plunged to the ground. Bankotsu turned around, smirking at the ignorant serpent.

"Have you forgotten I'm Bankotsu?"

Ryuuichi snarled and tried to bring Bankotsu's head down. But his claw barely scathed the floor before him. Bankotsu continued to grin. The mercenary laid Banryuu on the scaly arm. His black eyes suddenly shone blue. The dragon saw them and cringed.

"Don't… cut me up…!" Ryuuichi begged. Then his eyes shone as well, as if he found something to keep Death at bay. "I'll tell you… where… Naraku is…"

All of a sudden, Ryuuichi was screeching. Blood was splattering on every inch of the floor, gathering in a pool here, and dripping down a branch there. Banryuu's bane was dyed with Ryuuichi's blood, while Bankotsu was grinning so wide it was strange that his face wasn't about to tear. Bankotsu kicked aside Ryuuichi's arm that he slashed off and leaped at his other arm.

Sending the edge of Banryuu into the nudge in Ryuuichi's shoulder, he brought the demonic blade toward the dragon's neck. In one, successive slice, Ryuuichi had lost both arms and half of his chest. Meanwhile, the falling limbs landed into lake-sized blood pools. _Splash… splash…_

Ryuuichi glared at Bankotsu with one eye. "You… stupid… pathetic walking corpse! I'll have you—"

At that moment, Banryuu had made its way up to the corner of his jaw. With one pull, Ryuuichi's head was lopped off and joining its dismembered body parts in the bloody pools. When the limbs and head were all submerged in the blood, Bankotsu came down, landing on his two feet.

But Mika, who had been watching with widened eyes, noticed that something was off. Bankotsu was staggering to one side and his eyes were heavy with thought. His braid was becoming loose and his grip on Banryuu was no longer tight. It wasn't soon until he collapsed.

Both girls ran to his side, turning him around so that he was facing the sky. His lips were chapped, so Mika ordered Nagato to fetch some water or some substance that would quench his thirst. When they were alone, Bankotsu's eyes opened. He blinked several times at Mika, who had him over her lap, then turned away.

"Why do I always wake up on your lap?" he asked.

Mika stroked his hair. "It's because I'm nice."

Bankotsu chuckled and then covered his eyes. "I saw it."

"Huh? What did you see?"

"The Other World. My… mother was over there. She was frowning at me." He swallowed and sat up, almost bumping into Mika's chin. "And then, all of a sudden, memories just rushed into my brain. I was trying to cut them away…"

"What kind of memories?"

Bankotsu gawked at her. "Why do you want to know? Why do YOU want to know everything?"

Mika sat still, unabashed, and firmly returning his harsh gaze with her own. This surprised Bankotsu, because he had always thought Mika was a very emotional individual. Did she suddenly realized the cruelness of reality and grew up? Or was she simply pretending to be strong just so that she could draw out an answer out of Bankotsu?

Either way, Bankotsu had to admit, this girl was maturing. He assumed that eventually he would have to tell her anyway. Sighing, he took her hand and stared at it as he told her. He said:

"I saw you. You were crying and telling me to stay. That you'd give up everything you'd believe in for me to…" Then his hand left and he quickly gave her a foolish grin, trying to avoid conversation. "Never mind, it was just an illusion, okay? I beat that dragon dude, so let's go."

By the time he stood up and began to leave, Nagato had come back with a bucket of water in her hand. She dropped it anyway, when she spotted Bankotsu. Running to him, she tried to kiss him and treat him like a cuddly stuffed animal. All the while, Mika was pondering in the corner.

Bankotsu knew her. He knew her when she was a child, living in a village. And some time ago, she left the village due to revenge, bloodthirsty revenge. To achieve her revenge, she sought the help of the assassins of Dream, who took away her emotions and gave her demonic power. Then she met Sesshoumaru, most likely fell in love or was influenced by him, and decided to take back her memories and emotions.

And ended up here.

"Ah, Mika-chan! I remember you!" Nagato left Bankotsu and slammed into Mika's back. "Mika-chan! I missed you and Ban-chan so much! Where did you guys go? Omae-sama and everyone were so worried…"

_Omae…_

Mika gave her a startled expression. "I… know you?"

Nagato pouted, putting her hands on her waist. "Of course you do! We were all best buddies, weren't we? Well, I suppose if you want me to be honest, Bankotsu-kun and I were… just a smite close." She blushed and waved at Bankotsu, who was shaking his head and pacing up and down. He must have started to loathe Nagato by now.

"Well, anyway," Nagato continued. "I heard you two are traveling to go meet somebody! I just wanted to tell you I'm coming along!" She clapped her hands together and clasped Mika's. "Aren't you so happy?"

Mika smiled weakly. She had a feeling that this girl was going to be a pain in the neck.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Oh, Bankotsu-kun! You have a rice speck on your cheek. Let me wipe it for you," Nagato volunteered, scooting next to Bankotsu with her sleeve pulled over her hand.

It was only the first day after staying in the town where they had Nagato, but Mika and Bankotsu felt as if this girl was with them ever since they were born. Heck, this girl was even worse than Mika. And Mika even admitted it to herself—she was ANNOYING.

She constantly badgered Bankotsu, followed his heels, and talked about Bankotsu FREQUENTLY. She made delicious meals, but always gave Bankotsu and extra helping FREQUENTLY. And she was in love with Bankotsu, ALL THE TIME.

For Mika, it was sickening. For Bankotsu, he really started to consider suicide so that he could go back to the Other World.

Today, they were sitting in a field that was pretty nice, almost ready to enter a village when Nagato decided out of nowhere, it was time for lunch. Removing the large sack of cooking utensils from her back, she started rummaging for some materials to eat. Meanwhile, Mika and Bankotsu watched the girl set up lunch in oh, about five minutes.

They watched with interested curiosity and were stunned when a smell that neither warrior ever had in their life. It was cross between tomato and fish, vegetables and eggs, and the warmness, fluffiness of rice. Now, to foreigners, this may not sound very appetizing, but a day out in the wilderness, I assure you, will make you delusional.

"What's cooking?" Mika exclaimed, sniffing the aroma from the steam rising from the pot.

"Some dishes I learned at the town. When you got a hundred people to feed at once, your skills really can increase."

Bankotsu nudged Mika and whispered in her ear. "Now this is ONE good thing about her."

Mika rolled her eyes and sat down, cracking sore knuckles and toes. "I could do with a break."

"Old woman," Bankotsu teased and dodged the rock Mika flung at him.

Nagato then announced the arrival of their awaited food. Bowls made out of porcelain were laid out on the grass, while Nagato also brewed some warm tea. Soon, Mika and Bankotsu were stuffing themselves as if they would never see food again. The plates that were tumbling with food were demolished in seconds. Then, they both took a long sip at their tea cups, drinking down the immense meal they had just absorbed.

And then, Nagato made the approach. As Bankotsu griped and tried to shun her away, Mika sighed and pretended to look somewhere else. Lying on her stomach, she examined the trees in the distance, staring, staring, staring…

Without notice, there was a black flash before her eyes. It was very short-lived, so Mika wasn't sure if it was just the air that was playing tricks on her. But then, it flashed again. The black twinkle was long this time and much wider. The sound of youkai screaming and then silence was heard in the far, far distance. If Mika ignored her surroundings and became one with nature as she was taught when she was an assassin…

Mika sat up and turned around. Nagato and Bankotsu were still occupied with their little activity. So she walked away into the trees, gradually slipping into her dark outfit and spreading the scent masker throughout her body. Soon, concealed like a leaf on the floor, she checked the Chinese chef knife she had hidden inside her kimono and started to head toward the black light.

After all, the black light could only belong to Sesshoumaru.

And as she got closer, the youkai cries became louder. She spotted the tip of Tenesiga aimed at a red youkai. The brute leaped at the sword, yelling gallantly until the tip took one swipe at the body and poosh—the beast was gone. A void consisted of stars and distant galaxies consumed the being and then disappeared without another sound.

A foot moved into view. Then the head of the daiyoukai, Sesshoumaru. Mika widened at the sight. His prideful manner and royal appearance never ceased to amaze her. But now that she had confirmed that he was nearby, it was time to retreat. Surely, he could detect her proximate presence in a matter of seconds by just listening to her breath.

Mika took a step backwards and heard the sound of the branch breaking under her foot. She gasped and bound into the air, just as Sesshoumaru dashed behind her, the Meidou already opening from the slash made by Tenesiga. She landed against a tree and then ducked again when the sword just barely went over her head.

She did a back flip as she avoided another slash. Then, as she rolled out of harm's way, she pulled out her knife and clashed at Tenesiga. Sesshoumaru increased the pressure against her puny knife. Soon, the hilt of Tenesiga was right next to her finger. She released her grip on her knife before she lost a finger.

The knife landed onto the floor. Sesshoumaru stood up straight, his blade aimed toward the ground, while his gaze was direct at Mika. On the other side, Mika was panting from exhaustion. Moving at the lightning speed as Sesshoumaru was tiring. Because Mika's body was not naturally suited for youki, it took a toll on it every time she jumped and dodged something.

Then, Sesshoumaru's posture became less hostile. "Who are you?"

Mika blinked, refusing to give even the slightest hint to her identity. Right now, at that moment, she was the anonymous warrior who took down youkai with only the touch of her deadly youki. When she did not respond, Sesshoumaru frowned.

"If you won't answer, then I shall force it out of you." The daiyoukai pointed the blade at Mika. She tensed as he slowly made a hack at the air. The circle formed and Sesshoumaru called out the name of his deadly attack. "Meidou Zangetsuha."

But it was deadly than ever. The once-crescent moon shaped black path was now a complete circle. It was as big as a mountain and the suction force was massive. Mika had to literally latch her youki into the roots of the ground that held the trees to prevent from flying into the Meidou. When the Meidou closed, she released the hold in the ground and turned her back on Sesshoumaru. Her life was worth more than another meeting with the dangerous daiyoukai.

As she was running, she wondered if he was going to follow, but then remembered that if he did, it would be very difficult. He had always relied on his sense of smell and without a scent for him to track; he had to do it by menial means. So, her heart assured that she would not lead the ruthless killer to Nagato and Bankotsu, she began to run at a leisurely pace when all of a sudden, a black disk beneath her formed.

There were no identifiable lights inside the disk, so it was definitely not Sesshoumaru's Meidou. But the way the circle seemed to enlarge, to take up all the current capacity the forest could hold was very familiar. Then, green light from the edges gave it away. This was the warping ability of Garando, one of the assassins for Dream!

_No way am I going to get kidnapped, _Mika thought feverishly to herself, trying to attach her golden youki at one of the branches. Unfortunately at that second, Tsurugi, the knife and kunai girl materialized before her. With one hand poised in the air ready to throw the knife, she smirked and let loose the projectile.

The knife stung Mika's cheek as it whizzed past her face. However, just that little cut made all the difference in the world. Immediately, all the youki Mika was trying to release was sucked into that tiny knife. The knife itself continued to fly through the air until it touched a tree, which was directly annihilated.

"No!" Mika said as black hands rose from the portal to drag her down. Soon, the top of her head was facing the blackness, while the light was slipping from her grasp.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Where did Mika-chan go?" Nagato asked after a few more unsuccessful tries at getting rid of the rice on Bankotsu's chin.

"I don't know," Bankotsu snapped. "Who cares anyway?"

"Don't be mean, Ban-chan," Nagato whined. She looked in the direction of the forest. "I'm going to check, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Bankotsu said. _This is good. At this rate, I can get rid of both of them. _

Tentatively, Nagato started walking into the forest. Her height destroyed the sense of fear created by the dark trees, but somewhat there was something in there that didn't feel right. Hurriedly, she began to jog, then upgraded to a sprint. She was panting by the time she stumbled upon a creek that was greatly scorched. However, the edges, though seemingly resembling fire, were something different. Nagato paced to examine them, kneeling and touching it when there was a voice behind her.

"So the idiot mercenary didn't come, huh? Well, _one of them_ is better than nothing," Honou exclaimed, patting her fiery, slick red hair while pointing with another hand, a fire-lit rod. The assassin was wearing the usual plain black kimono, though it was cut off by the time the fabric reached her knees. Black, long socks that people didn't wear back then were clearly shown, while her feet were wearing handmade straw sandals.

Nagato spun around, her muscles contracting and her stomach fluttering with anxiety. "W-Who a-are you-you?"

Honou rotated her tonfas around and around, grinning in a malevolent manner that would've made a dove vaporize. All of a sudden, she stopped spinning it and held it tightly. "Well, well, well. How do I explain it?" She closed her eyes and pretended to think deeply. Meanwhile, Nagato inched a teensy bit closer to a fallen stick beside her…

Then, Honou came to a conclusion. "I think it'll be better if—" she said, disappearing and reappearing behind Nagato. "—I JUST SHOW YOU! HA!" Honou bent her elbow back and then shoved the end of her tonfa at Nagato's head. The flames intensified, already sizzling the brown-haired girl's hair.

But at in that instant, Nagato had also picked up the branch. With colossal strength, she struck Honou's chin, stunning and shocking the hot-headed assassin. As a minuscule amount of blood trickled from her mouth, Honou looked up at the brown-headed girl. Her dainty, polite appearance cast shadow on this sudden attack.

Praising her, Honou said, "That was unexpected. I held the inference that you were going to cower and scream for Bankotsu or something."

Nagato didn't respond. She just stared at the grass, holding the branch very tightly. Honou took this to be anger.

"Insulted?" The assassin held up her own weapons. "I can help you with that. Let me just get rid of that darn branch," she yelled, slamming her flames at the branch. Instantly, the stick crumbled to ashes, slipping through Nagato's fingers.

Then was when Nagato cried out and backed away to a tree, trapped with nowhere to go. Her face was scrunched up in terror. Honou wiped away the little wound Nagato had generated from hitting her and began to snicker lowly to herself.

"Good, good! I love that look on your face!" She thrust the longer end of the shaft against her neck. "You must show me more." The flames that were originally on the end of the tonfa now surrounded the tonfa, roasting Nagato's neck. But Nagato bit her tongue and kept looking down.

Nagato was also mouthing something to herself. "Have to keep it in… don't lose… it's all right… don't remember…"

Honou brought the other tonfa at Nagato's face, again and again, until a large bruise was sweltering up on both sides of Nagato's cheeks.

Then her cold, icy fingers shot up from the sides of her legs and wrapped themselves around Honou's neck. Nagato looked up, glowering at her with maniacal eyes.

"Don't kill me," Nagato whispered. "What have I done to you?" Then her head drooped and her grip was lessened, just a little. "No… I mustn't… but… she'll kill me anyway…"

Honou kicked Nagato in the stomach, catapulting the poor girl through five trees before she stopped. "It seems that I can't play around with you, can I? Very well, you asked for it!"

Nagato, on the other hand, was barely sitting up against the tree by the time Honou appeared before her again, flames coiling around the assassin. Eyes widening, Nagato tried to block an incoming attack from Honou, but the assassin was serious now. Using the speed Honou had purposely kept inside, the assassin began to pummel punches and kicks and smashes with her tonfa.

Soon, Nagato was on the floor, her hand trying to push back the foot that threatened to crush her throat. The poor girl opened an eye and almost lost the will to fight to find an enormous mass of fire gathering on the edge of the tonfa Honou had raised.

"You see it right? This," Honou said, "is your death. Savor it, because I never get to use it."

Nagato closed her eyes. All of a sudden, she let out a great, heinous laugh that broke the doom ambiance.

"Kill me… can you?" Nagato dug her nails into Honou's leg. "You can't can, you?"

The assassin blinked. _What the heck is wrong with this girl? She's… weird. _"Let go of my leg, you crazy psycho-path," Honou cried, stomping on Nagato's neck. But by now, Nagato kicked her away. As Honou landed on the ground on her back for the umpteenth time, Nagato seized the one of the tonfas Honou was using. She dragged herself over to Honou and fought back to hold in another fanatical cackle.

"Here's the pain you so wanted."

~O~O~O~O~O~

Kagome was crying. No, it was just one eye. Nevertheless, Inuyasha was worried. The sudden suicide blast from Kanna wasn't exactly something a human could overcome. He hurried to Kagome's side and pulled her hand away to check her eyes. One of them was red from agitation of a foreign object.

"Kagome…" he started, but was hushed by Kagome's next sentence.

"Kanna did have a heart, after all." She wiped away the tear from one eye and smiled at her worried friends. "Don't worry, she just… told me her last words."

Sango grasped the fabric holding her Hiraikostu firmly. "Darn Naraku. I can't forgive him for treating everyone who's done his dirty work like nothing. I swear, I'll get him." The youkai taijiya slammed the rim of her large boomerang into the floor.

Miroku patted Sango's back reassuringly. He knew too well that Naraku was always like this. Once you were unneeded, goodbye. Especially since one of the people Naraku used was…

A tiny kitsune jumped up onto Miroku's shoulder, trying to comfort Sango. "It's okay Sango. We'll find Kohaku. Wasn't he traveling with Sesshoumaru?"

"Which is pretty weird," Inuyasha answered, walking over to Shippo and the others. "Maybe he thinks he's going to hurt Sango if he stays with us."

Sango looked up. "But I forgave him! Even though I'll never forget the moment he killed everyone with that emotionless face, he's my brother!" She seized Inuyasha's collar. "You don't understand anything!"

"Sango-chan," Kagome said, reaching out. "Inuyasha's…"

The youkai taijiya released her hold on Inuyasha's top and held her hand guiltily. Her head was now plagued by the memories of the woman that had Inuyasha's heart to the very end, if not forever. "Sorry. I… went too far, didn't I…?"

"It's the past," Inuyasha simply said. "Let's continue moving."

The Inutachi watched as Inuyasha began to head into the forest, about to follow suit when a black void opened up above them. A ball of light plunged from it and smashed into the earth behind Inuyasha. When the light submerged, a figure clothed in complete black was seen.

Inuyasha's hand flew to Tessaiga's hilt, his heart instantly pumping blood with adrenaline because of instinct. And instinct told him that something was wrong here. This figure, he couldn't tell was alive or dead.

Because this figure had no scent.


	75. Episode 75

**Author Note: Forgive me if this doesn't flow well. I've been having some hard time writing it, but I think this actually came out good. In the end, I got the flow once more. :D I put in extremely important hints in this chapter, so make sure to look for them! Now for your awaited Episode 75!**

* * *

Episode 75: Turning Wheel

"Up and down… goo gaga… that's right. Up and down…"

The baby raised a hand and hooked one of Yukuro's white hairs. Showing her its toothless mouth, it continued imitating Yukuro's sounds. The snake on the other hand, stopped trying to teach the infant words and started to pull its tender finger away from her face. Meanwhile, another baby crawled onto Yukuro's lap and began to gnaw away her kimono.

"Hey!" Yukuro cried, slapping the baby that was eating her clothing. Instantly, the baby began to cry.

All of a sudden, Rin came running out of the bushes. Before her was yet another infant, the eldest, who had already learned how to run, and was scampering away from the seven-year-old. "Ah, don't go over there!" Rin yelled as the baby bumped into an already agitated Yukuro.

"Ga?" the eldest triplet asked, looking up at Yukuro. The one playing with her hair rolled away from her lap, sucking its thumb and getting dirty. The one crying began to eat her hakama now. Yukuro tore at her hair in frustration.

Just then, Rin announced, "Oh, Yukuro-san, Sesshoumaru-sama came back! He came back!"

And true to the little girl's words, a tall figure in the distance came walking toward the waterfall Rin, Yukuro, Ah-Un, and the sleeping servant Jaken were situated at. When Yukuro clearly identified him to be THE Sesshoumaru, Yukuro flung away the babies, forgetting that they were delicate creatures, and stormed up to them while all three were bawling when they slammed into a tree.

"You," Yukuro barked, stabbing her pointer finger at Sesshoumaru. "How dare you go take a nice, brisk walk in the woods while I'm stuck with your brats? Aren't you supposed to be their father?"

Sesshoumaru ignored her and continued to walk until he was before Rin. "Did you behave yourself, Rin?"

"_Hai_," Rin said, saluting the daiyoukai. In the background, Yukuro started going into her unstoppable tantrums.

"SESSHOUMARU! DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME!"

Finally, Sesshoumaru unleashed his ultimate weapon and gave Yukuro his death glare. "What?"

"You've been neglecting your children long enough! They're all lacking vital nutrients and stuff!"

Sesshoumaru aimed a look at his adorable, abused children. "They look fine to me."

Yukuro clawed at her face, wondering what Mika ever saw in this guy. "They're starving! All they had for a meal was some persimmons, but that's not even what they're supposed to eat!"

Sesshoumaru continued to glower at the snake youkai emotionlessly. "Pray tell, what they're supposed to take in then."

"Eh?" She blushed and started playing with her fingers. Glancing at the ground and kicking a nearby rock, she wondered how she could put the thought she had into words. It wasn't exactly something men were able to comprehend easily after all. But it was also something that children as young as Rin were not supposed to learn before puberty. Finally, she decided to just say it, just vaguely.

"Er, well you see, when women become, you know, _in that situation_… Their body reacts and starts to build up." Yukuro looked up at Sesshoumaru. His lack of sentiment and care was hard to tell if he was listening or not. She continued on anyway. "And since Mika was… the _one_… her body's been prepared ever since… they were born… and I'm not the mom, so I can't feed them… you know what I mean?"

As usual, Sesshoumaru gave her the blank stare. "No," he finally responded after a few more minutes. "Let's move."

"Hey, hey, hey! Didn't you listen? Where are we going?"

"Nowhere," Sesshoumaru replied.

"Come on, Sesshoumaru! At least look at them!"

"No," the daiyoukai calmly repeated.

"Do you even know their names?"

"No."

"At LEAST learn their names. Look this one is…" Yukuro started, picking up one of the infants and pointing a finger at its face. The baby had bangs growing out on the right side its forehead and a little tuft of hair in the back. But then, the other baby, most likely the eldest one, had bangs growing out in its left side. Or was it the right side? _Wait, Fuki had bangs growing out of her left side right? _She glanced at the last baby, who was still blubbering over its pain. _Then that one is Maro… no wait, Saki. No, Fuki, because…_

Yukuro then decided to take desperate measures. She reached for one of the infant's pants and began to remove them, when Sesshoumaru stopped turned around.

"What are you doing?" he asked, apparently annoyed at the fact that Yukuro looked like a child molester.

"I thought you didn't care."

"It's just disturbing to watch you take their clothes off."

"Look, I'm just checking if this one's a girl or a boy." Yukuro smiled at the baby in her hands. "Aren't you, my baby gaga? Goo goo gaga?"

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes as the baby pursed its lips to spit.

"Right—oh, that's just sick!" the snake youkai cried as the baby's saliva successfully smashed into Yukuro's left eye. Quickly, she put the pants back on, wiped the smelly spit on her eye, and squeezed the baby very tight in affection and frustration.

Sesshoumaru turned his back, mild interest lost. After all, names of unwanted, half-breed mistakes were none of his concern. In the background, Yukuro began to follow, while trying to discern the tiny, tiny differences between the triplets. But she just couldn't remember which infant had this difference, or this type of quirk.

In addition, their "goo goo gaga" was too adorable and often distracted Yukuro from her thinking. They were also extremely energetic, despite lacking the nutrients they needed from a mother's milk, biting Yukuro's skin and pulling whatever was sticking out of her head. They all looked like Mika in a way, with the same upturned, bubbly eyes, but the crescent marks and their white hair helped identify some of Sesshoumaru's features too.

So, in the end, Yukuro didn't know whether to hate them, or love them. They were Mika's children and it was Yukuro's duty to make sure they lived until Mika could meet them again. But they were also Sesshoumaru's brats and if she played her cards right, she could very well annoy Sesshoumaru with them or possibly blackmail him into forgiving Mika again.

Sighing from all this tedious pondering, she tugged the infant with white bangs growing out of its left side (which was Fuki, the oldest) and set her on Ah-Un's back. Patting the baby's head, she then proceeded to repeat this process until all three infants were sitting dumbly on the youkai's back. To prevent them from falling or moving, she took off her outer kimono and tied them in a bunch to Ah-Un's back. Then she marched her way up to Sesshoumaru.

"So, why'd you leave Mika?"

Instantly, the moment Yukuro let Mika's name out of her system and into the acorn-scented air, Sesshoumaru's arm danced to Tenesiga. The fang of his father was drawn and slashed a good portion of a tree into the Meidou before returning back into its sheath. As Yukuro halted in her steps and gazed at the absence of the branches on the tree, Sesshoumaru made it clear with his next words that he _WAS_ going to kill Mika on sight.

"She does not exist. And if she tries to…"

Yukuro gulped. She didn't need to say anymore. Apparently, Rin was much more precious than she thought. Or maybe having been reduced to a father really had him lose his composure.

Mika. Yukuro wondered how that clumsy, infuriating, but fun-loving miko was doing. Surely having been retaliated by the person she held so dearly in her heart was a fatal strike to Mika's mental health. It was hard imagining, even this miko who had short-term memory loss so often, her jumping around and surrounded by flowers after she was forced to abandon all hope of being with Sesshoumaru. _Though that chance was negative infinity ever since she fell for that ungrateful dog, _Yukuro thought.

Then Yukuro remembered the one thing about Mika. Her persistence at everything she wanted. If she loved Sesshoumaru, and still loved him, she would eventually try to confront him. Even if it meant her life, she would still try to grab his hand or embrace him. The concept of Death was too grim for Mika to accept it. No, Mika was a child; her mind and heart was so similar to a child, that she would think Sesshoumaru, a ruthless killer, would hesitate in killing her.

Sesshoumaru would kill her. As soon as he saw her wispy black hair, her head would be rolling on the grass. Yukuro's heart began to pound as she made the decision to avert a meeting with Mika and Sesshoumaru as soon as possible. Yes, she had to protect Mika—

All of a sudden, Sesshoumaru's hand gripped Tenesiga again. The light emitted from the blade shone brightly as it nearly scraped the skin of a milky-colored forehead. Yukuro blinked and focused her eyes onto the girl that was before Sesshoumaru.

It _couldn't _be. But those same hazel but brown upturned eyes and shoulder-length black hair with straight cut bangs were the very features that defined Mika. Yukuro shut her eyes and reopened them, while taking a step forward. The girl was very short, too short to be Mika. _Thank god, it's not her._

However, Sesshoumaru wasn't so sure. Tenesiga was still aimed at the girl. In fact, it seemed as if anyone who looked the slightest like Mika, he was going to cut down. Raising his arm, Yukuro saw the girl look up, her face twisted in terror. The snake youkai opened her mouth too, starting to run toward the girl when there was the sound of Tenesiga lodged into something.

Yukuro punch the air behind her to prevent from tripping onto Sesshoumaru. Someone had rescued the mysterious mirror girl of Mika.

The person turned out to be a boy around the age of twenty-one. He was wearing strange clothes with tight pants made out of this dark blue material and a cotton shirt without any obi to keep it in place. He had his arm against Tenesiga, blocking the blade from slicing the little girl's head. The boy glared at Sesshoumaru, as if glaring was going to lessen the amount of blood and pressure on his arm.

In addition to being emotionless to the limb obstacle Sesshoumaru was pitted against, his glower wavered not a bit and only succeeded in forcing a wince out of the boy. Beside the boy, the little girl tugged at his pants and told him to stop.

Yukuro decided to pitch in as well. "H-Hey! Just let go! Sesshoumaru—he'll really cut through your arm!"

The boy only smiled. "Hmph! Then we'd be equal then. After all, if I lose my arm, we'll both be one-armed."

Sesshoumaru only deepened his furrow when he heard the boy say something so outrageous. "Equal, you say?" He increased the pressure on Tenesiga… and then brought Tenesiga in an arc to release his signature move, the Meidou. However, when the Meidou opened, it instantly closed when a purple light swallowed it. Sesshoumaru leapt back and watched as the wound Tenesiga had made on the boy's arm close rapidly.

"Is… he a youkai?" Yukuro demanded.

"No, he's human. My nose never fools me," Sesshoumaru said. He put away Tenesiga. "I've no interest in you any longer."

But the boy wasn't the type to let threats pass. He also had a few questions to ask this daiyoukai.

"_Matte_," the boy said. "Where's Hashi Mika?"

Yukuro clawed at her face as she panicked. Was this boy stupid or what? He was lucky to escape with his arm and now he was bringing up the dangerous subject again!

Fortunately, Sesshoumaru truly lost the ferocity of killing this boy and the little girl and decided to say, "No, I don't know who you are talking about."

"Yes, you do. You were traveling with her, weren't you? Where is she?"

"She doesn't exist."

The boy growled and took a step forward when the little girl held onto his leg.

"Onii-chan… stop. It's okay. Let's go home, Onii-chan."

"No, I'm going to have Mika say sorry to you!"

The little girl shook her head and buried herself in her brother's back. "NO, ONII-CHAN! I… I don't want to see Onee-chan ever again. She's going to hit me again, and, and…!"

"Kyoko…"

Sesshoumaru turned his back toward the siblings and continued to walk past them. Letting loose a breath the youkai had kept in due to the tense atmosphere, Ah-Un followed his master. Following suit, Jaken and Rin kept their heads down, wondering if Sesshoumaru was really going to let this slide.

On the other hand, Yukuro stomped up next to the siblings and forced them to walk at her pace, which was pretty slow, so that she could hit some sense into that boy.

~O~O~O~O~O~

It was dusk by the time Yukuro finished explaining everything that happened to the boy, except for the fact that Mika was pregnant for three months and had three children that happened to be living off on persimmons. During Yukuro's long and mouth-drying story, the snake youkai learned the siblings' names and managed to understand a bit of who they were.

Supposedly, the boy, who was Hashi Hitachi, was Mika's brother. Fourteen years ago, his sister named "Mika" had drowned in the lake and never resurfaced. Ever since, his parents had decided to forget about ever having Mika. Around that time, Kyoko was in their mother's stomach. Soon, she came out and who did she resemble the most? The lost child. But Mr. Hashi and Mrs. Hashi pretended as if this was the first time they saw Mika's "face".

Hitachi, who hadn't been the model brother, thought this was strange. Why would his sister mysteriously disappear without leaving a corpse? So one day, he went back to the lake. He stayed there for a few days, waiting for any abnormalities. When nothing happened, he packed up and was about to leave when there was the sudden roar of water.

He described the experience as "swallowing blackness combined with suffocating pressure around your neck and body." Hitachi thought his body was ripped apart until the waves pulled him to a sandy shore. As he recovered, five silhouettes blocked the sun and handed him a tiny, purple shard.

"A _Shikon no Kakera,_" Yukuro said, when he got to the part.

"What is it, exactly?" Hitachi asked. "I know it can heal stuff and give me powers…" The boy looked at his arm, where Tenesiga was digging into his bone. There was no trace of the wound, save for a jagged white scar that went around his elbow and climbed to his shoulder.

"It's exactly that. Supposedly though, when it becomes whole, it can grant a wish."

"Any wish?"

"Anything. It's an item that _defies the powers of the gods_… in way, don't you think?" Yukuro glanced at Hitachi's growing scar. "I don't remember his sword going all the way up your shoulder."

Hitachi turned his head and eyed Sesshoumaru. The white figure was minuscule in the distance, but the way he stood and didn't sit with the others made him seem so regal, so in control. Hitachi looked back down, remembering the blade in his flesh, stinging burning, while the daiyoukai was glaring at him so emotionlessly. He hadn't seen many youkai before, but from one glance, he knew he was a different kind. A kind of youkai that never showed what he thought or what he cared about.

Yukuro revived the topic by asking Hitachi about his sister and where he came from. "So you and your sister, Kyoko, come from the… _future_?"

"Well, it looks like it," Hitachi replied. "We don't wear your kind of clothes at my place."

"Maybe you come from a different country."

"I'm talking to you in Japanese, aren't I?"

"Well…"

"Face it; I'm more advanced and "older" than you."

"Hmph," Yukuro exclaimed, folding her arms. "Keep on bragging, youngster. When you're eighty, I'll still be jumping. After all, I'm more "special" than you."

Just then, Kyoko emerged from the bushes. Her face was red and puffy from tears, which had been accumulated from fear of Sesshoumaru and her "sister", Mika. When she saw Hitachi, the tears rushed out of her eyes again. Burying her head in her brother's arms, she started to cry some more.

"Poor girl," Yukuro commented. "But Sesshoumaru _is _a natural jerk."

Hitachi nodded in agreement as he stroked Kyoko's black hair. "It's okay, Kyoko. As long as I'm here, that white-haired monster won't hurt you." The boy showed his sister some non-existent muscles. "See, I'm pretty strong."

Kyoko shook her head, her tears continuing to flood down her cheeks. "But you didn't protect me from Onee…!"

"Ah… well… she is our sister," Hitachi explained, stuttering and scratching his head. "If… if I attacked her, she might have been killed…"

"I don't care! I hate her! I hate Onee! I hope she dies!" Kyoko sniffed and wiped her nose on Hitachi's jacket. Her brother winced, but wisely to ignore it as to not make Kyoko feeling worse than she already was.

"Don't say that. Mika was… not herself. That was just a copy. There are bad guys out there that know you love Onee-chan. That's why they used her image to trick you."

The little, naïve girl instantly swallowed up his lie. This showed that she truly wanted to believe in her older sister, no matter how crazy it sounded. Looking up at her brother with sparkling eyes, she asked him, "Really?"

"Really," Hitachi repeated. "You know that white-haired guy that attacked you? He can change form. If you're not careful, he might use my image to trick you." Ruffling Kyoko's hair, he lowered his tone. "So be careful…"

Kyoko shivered and was prepared to hide inside Hitachi's arms, but her brother seized this chance to tickle her mercilessly in the stomach. Soon, Kyoko was guffawing and slapping at Hitachi's fingers, but Hitachi planned to make Kyoko laugh until her face was blue. When she did turn blue, did he stop and hug his sister affectionately.

"I'm sure when we meet Mika again, she'll apologize. Then we'll all go home!" Hitachi said, smiling at Kyoko. "You want to go home, right?"

"Of course! I want to go to the summer festival with Onee-chan, eat ice cream with Onee-chan, make balloons with Onee-chan, break watermelons with…"

Kyoko's voice began to fade, her eyelids drooping and her head nodding. It wasn't long until she had fallen asleep, mesmerized in her dreams with Mika holding her hand and guiding her along the way of life, as an older sister would do. Ah, but dreams were dreams, and as angelic as Kyoko seemed, Yukuro had a feeling Mika would not be apologizing to them.

And neither would they go home soon either.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Mika woke up in a hut, blanket strewn over her, feet bare, but her face and body was still covered by her black outfit. She was about to ask Sesshoumaru where she was, but then she realized that she was no longer with him. Sitting up, she was prepared to see Bankotsu or somebody else, but instead, a group of strangers met her eyes.

Then she realized these were not strangers, but acquaintances she had met a long while back. The hanyou Inuyasha, the miko wearing strange clothes named Kagome, Sango the youkai taijiya, Miroku the monk, Shippo the kitsune, and their nekomata, Kirara.

Their eyes were of uncertainty though, while Inuyasha had one hand poised on drawing Tessaiga. The only person who looked completely comfortable and vulnerable was Kagome, who was mixing up some very unsightly porridge. But then again, all members weren't exactly chefs.

"All right, before you do anything else, tell us your name and who you are," Inuyasha demanded. "I can't smell a single thing from you."

Kagome hushed Inuyasha with a harsh glance before loosening her features and approaching Mika. She set down a bowl of the porridge and smiled at Mika.

"You slept for three days. We found you right next to Inuyasha, falling down from the sky. You didn't seem like you had any injuries, so we just had you rest here. I'm sure you're hungry."

Mika's stomach growled as soon as Kagome suggested that she eat something. But Mika didn't want to expose her identity. Being the Black Ninja was much cooler and a much more prudent move than dropping her guard.

And she knew this shrewd, simple tactic. By getting her to eat and pretending that they were not hostile at all, she would have to pull down the mask. This would show her face and everyone in there would start asking questions and butting their noses in things that didn't belong to them. So Mika sat there, glowering at the bowl and wishing that she could eat it, but she made no attempt to grab it or even smell it. Of course, this made Inuyasha extremely agitated.

Leaping to his feet, he drew out Tessaiga and pointed it at Mika. Immediately, Mika responded by reaching behind her pants and pulling out her other Chinese chef knife from its makeshift leather sheath. Locked in each other's gazes, they stayed in these positions until Kagome released the magic word from her lips. Without a second lagging, the half-breed plummeted to the floor, his face smashing into the straw mats.

"Inuyasha, don't be so rude! I'm sure… um, this person here has an explanation! Eventually," Kagome added, for Mika's benefit. "For now, this person should… take it easy. It's not like Naraku's going to run away."

Sitting up with a menacing expression aimed at Kagome, Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's not like Naraku's going to run away," he mocked in a high-pitched tone. "That's garbage! He's always running away, that dirty coward!"

"Osuwari," Kagome announced. The hanyou went back to the floor.

"Kagome-sama's right," Miroku said when there was nothing but silence in the room. "We do need a break."

Inuyasha sent a gawk at Miroku, then at Sango. "A break for him to womanize some more."

Soon, Inuyasha and Sango were glaring at Miroku in unison. Kagome hastily tried to calm them down, when Mika walked right into their stares. Breaking the tense situation, she stopped to glance at the scenery behind the hut's flap. Then, she relaxed her shoulders and left the hut. It wasn't long before Kagome was chasing after her.

"W-Wait! Are you sure you're okay?"

Mika ignored her. Her first priority was to get back to Bankotsu. She didn't know why she wanted to go back and see his cheeky face so badly, but it was better than aching for an unattainable man like Sesshoumaru. Not that she wanted to attain Bankotsu. It was sort of a mutual thing they produced, a bond quarreling brothers and sisters always make.

It was… fun, to argue with Bankotsu. For one thing, it certainly prevented Mika from thinking about Sesshoumaru too much. But Kagome was more persistent than she thought.

"Those brown, but almost hazel-like eyes… are you Mika-chan?"

Her shoulders got the goose bumps at the sound of Kagome pronouncing her name. This girl was sharp and observant.

"I… won't tell Inuyasha," Kagome continued. "Um, forgive me for asking, but weren't you with Sesshoumaru?"

Mika kept her mouth shut so that she wouldn't go spilling her problems to this teenage girl. It was none of her beeswax. What happened between Sesshoumaru and who she was, was none of her darn business!

"Mika-chan, please, won't you say something?"

The black-clothed girl took in a deep breath and pulled down her mask. Pulling off the black turban she wrapped around her head to keep the scent surfacing from her hair, she glanced at Kagome.

"Yes, I'm Mika. Thank you for being so kind to me. But I don't you should be kind to me anymore."

Kagome studied the tiny white powder bits in Mika's hair. They were absorbing the fictional aroma of perfume that was emitted from Mika's pores. "Why shouldn't I?"

"I've changed and I'm going to keep changing. One day, I might hurt you."

"You don't know me that well. There's no reason for me to hurt you."

"Yes, yes, there's a reason for me to hurt you. To hurt the houshi-sama, the taijiya-sama, the hanyou, and most of all you." Clutching the turban she was grasping in her hand tightly, she fought back the urge to yell at Kagome. After all, Kagome was right in a way. But Mika had a very good reason to hate them all.

Kagome on the other hand, still didn't understand. "What's… the reason?"

"It's what you have." Mika pulled the mask back above the bridge of her nose. Tying the turban around her head, she was about to take another step when Inuyasha walked out of the house.

"So you're Sesshoumaru's woman, right? What a bad choice," he commented. "So what do we have that you don't have?"

"Everything," Mika answered.

"Uh, you have a pair of arms. So do I."

"It's the feeling. Now let me be."

Inuyasha approached Mika and put a hand on her shoulder. He looked into her eyes. Her golden irises showed sorrow and the desire for everyone to go away. It showed the same thing Inuyasha showed when he looked at everyone. The desire for someone to come back. The desire for the one you love to accept you, to never leave your side…

When Mika broke his line of gaze, she continued to walk into the forest, intent on getting back to Bankotsu even if she was a thousand miles away. Even if Garando came again and sent her to another country, she wanted to go back. She was tired of being lonely.

In the background, Inuyasha nudged Kagome. "Let's follow her… just in case."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"B-Bankotsu-kun!"

Nagato's voice was loud and clear. Her voice was coming from the trees, where Mika had run off. Bankotsu turned around, anticipating a bear hug from Nagato and a sorry looking Mika. Instead, Nagato's kimono was splattered with a small amount of blood and her face was covered in sweat. She gasped for air as she rested her arms on her knees, trying to speak.

"Help me, there's this woman! I tried to stop her by hitting her back, but, but!" Nagato shot herself into Bankotsu's unwelcoming arms. "Help me, Ban-chan!"

"Okay, okay. Geez… where's this woman?"

Nagato wiped away some sweat from her brow and pointed to the forest. "O-Over there. Do… do we have to go back?"

"Well, if you want me to kill her—"

"No! Don't kill her; just… beat her enough so that she goes away. Please?" Nagato tightened her hold on Bankotsu's arm while looking at him with pleading eyes. Bankotsu rolled his eyes, thinking, _I don't look like I got a choice, do I?_

Slowly, they made their way back into the forest. Suddenly, the forest enlarged once more, swallowing the light behind them. Bankotsu could feel Nagato's hot, steady breath on his fingers. It made him feel a little anxious. Plus, her new blood stain on her kimono wasn't helping. Not that he was scared—he was just a teeny bit uneasy. That was all.

"There," Nagato said, her brown eyes ogling at a woman on the floor. She focused harder and then gasped when she realized the woman was dead. "Oh my gosh… she's…!"

Bankotsu tugged his arm free from Nagato's grasp and advanced toward the woman. Kneeling before the red-headed woman, he turned the woman to her side so that she was facing the sky. Her face had been brutally beaten to a pulp, while the blood was still oozing out of the bruises. Her hair was flying out of its stomas, describing a horrid death.

"Who could've done this…?" Nagato asked. Bankotsu stood up, cracking his shoulders.

"You," Bankotsu answered. He fixed his cold, steel-like stare on Nagato. The accused was looking somewhere else; obviously very uncomfortable that she had been blamed.

"Why would I go so far to kill her? I get so afraid at the sight of blood…!"

"You have blood on your kimono. You also told me you beat her, with her own weapon." Bankotsu picked up a tonfa submerged in leaves.

Nagato began to quiver. All of a sudden, her shoulders started to shake in rhythm with her tears. "Oh… I can't tell you. She'll… she'll kill me!"

Bankotsu cocked his head to one side. "What?"

"The truth is… I spotted Mika-chan. She was running in that black outfit of hers. I was going to call out to her when this woman tried to kill me. Mika-chan… she was scared that I was going to be hurt so she knocked the woman onto the floor. I was so scared, I was against that tree, telling Mika to run away and leave me behind, to get you, but… the woman! The woman wanted to kill us so badly!" Nagato slid to her knees wiping her face over and over. "Then, when Mika managed to get the tonfas away, she picked it up. She told me 'I have to do this. It's the only way.' I didn't get her at first. But when she began to beat the woman, again, and again, I understood what she wanted to do. I yelled at her, screamed at her, but she was so scared, so worried. I don't know if she was the one who killed her but… when I was running away, she was laughing…"

Nagato held her head up, searching for any sign that Bankotsu believed her. "Don't you… believe me?"

Now, readers, let me pause here for a moment. Did you think Bankotsu would believe her? That colossal amount of words, sentences she stringed? You must consider Bankotsu's personality. He was ruthless killer. But he had died three times, seen the truth. He was a changed boy. But not everything changed. The compassion he held for his companions, the naivety he had for any type of deal anyone presented him; it was still there. Why not believe her? What harm would come from believing her? Considering how solemn and moody Mika was at times, this was a very believable story.

"Bankotsu," Nagato called out. "Neh, don't you believe me?" She crawled over, wrapping her arms around his legs. "Believe me! Mika-chan… she…"

_Do I believe her? Do I not believe her? _

Bankotsu put a hand on her head. He said not another word.

Then, he knelt down and stared into Nagato's eyes. "Let's find Mika and ask her."

"You don't believe me?" Nagato widened her eyes. She gripped at his kimono. "You have to trust me!"

His hands went over hers. "We'll see." He stood up, pulling her up and started heading deeper in the forest. "Let's just get somewhere, okay?"

Nagato nodded. She waited until he was far enough so that she could see him, but he could not hear whatever she had to murmur. Then she walked to the corpse of the assassin. If you were at that moment, looking at her, you might have thought she was sneering at her. Or maybe, she was crying at whoever killed her. No one could've known anything with that blank expression.

When a few minutes passed by, Nagato stepped over the assassin and began to follow Bankotsu in his footsteps, all the while, Bankotsu began to really feel her presence. He could hear every crunch that she took, every breath, even the sound of her hair flying on her face. He didn't know why he could hear such things or was so alert all of a sudden. It was like an old instinct reborn.

He grasped Banryuu tighter. It was a habit. It reassured him. It made things feel safer, tame enough for him to subdue everything. But with Nagato there… could her subdue her?

"What's the matter, Bankotsu?" This time, she did not add the "chan". She walked next to him and smiled at him innocently. "We're going to find Mika-chan, aren't we?"

"Nothing. It's just that… I can feel you breathing on me," Bankotsu replied.

Her hand flew to his wrist. "Shut up. You don't feel ANYTHING."

Bankotsu scowled. "Is that a problem?"

Nagato didn't blink. Then she released her hold and continued to walk, sighing and taking in breaths. She seemed to be hiding something, holding that something back. "Never mind, I was just… a little worried that you were sick or something. Forget anything I said."

_It's hard to when you're acting like Mika_, he thought.

~O~O~O~O~O~

That night, Kyoko had a haunting, but magnificent dream. In the dream, the world was black, with the exception of several mirror shards around her. Kyoko could reach out a hand and touch these shards, feeling the sharp end prick her finger. Then, Kyoko realized there was a voice in the dream. A soft, beautiful voice. Or maybe it just seemed beautiful.

Kyoko took a step forward. The floor turned out to be glass, reflecting back a lonely black and white image of her. She halted and looked at the reflection. It didn't look like her, because the black and white image had short hair. But those eyes… the height, yes, it was all her.

"Kyoko…"

She looked up. There was a figure in the darkness. The figure was growing fainter as she delayed. If she didn't catch up, she would never get to see who the voice belonged to. Kyoko started to walk again, bare feet in front of the other, again, and again…

"Kyoko…"

"Wait," Kyoko called out.

"Kyoko…" the enticing voice sounded. "Kyoko, come to me…"

"I'm coming," Kyoko told the figure.

"You're too slow. Come faster, Hashi Kyoko. Faster… faster!"

The mirror child quickened her pace. Soon, she reached the figure. Strangely, she felt no exhaustion. She shrugged when she thought about that. It was a dream after all.

The figure, which had been shining white, formed a person when Kyoko happened to look up. It formed a girl with black hair that blended in with the blackness around her. Her bangs were cut straight across her forehead… and her eyes were golden. Kyoko screamed in the dream and hurried to run away when Mika caught her.

"Kyoko… don't be afraid of me. I'm sorry; I never meant to hurt you." Mika tilted her head to one side, looking apologetic. She pushed a tuft of bangs behind Kyoko's hair. "Kyoko, I love you. Don't you love Onee-chan?"

Kyoko shook her head. She was so full of fear. But Mika kept on stroking her hair, her fingers so gentle and wonderful on her head. It made the sudden fever Kyoko had contracted disappear because her fingers were so delightfully cold. Kyoko gradually slipped her arms around Mika's waist. She smelled so wonderful.

"Do you love me, Kyoko?"

Kyoko looked up at Mika and gazed into her beautiful golden irises.

"Yes, Onee-chan. You are my _goddess…_"


	76. Episode 76

.Episode 76: The Missing Returned

It was a rough hand that grabbed the shoulder of the youngster. Screaming and biting at the skin of the hand that held him back, the boy reached out to his father, yelling for help. But the father was afraid too and in the end, fear won over the love of his son. Turning around, the father let the son watch his back as he ran. And as he ran, a tear rolled down his cheek. He didn't want to leave him behind. But if he didn't run, there would never be a chance of rescuing him ever again.

Yes, the father planned to return. One day.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The sky looked so blue and clear, but nevertheless, the clouds still obscured the view of the sky. It was as if there was an omen in the air. Mika chuckled at the thought, wondering when she started becoming so grim. After all, with Mika, there was always an omen.

The once-an-assassin continued to walk, while studying the movements of the Inutachi following her with her peripheral vision. They were very bad at following, for their footsteps were loud and large. Aside from the hanyou, Mika could count their footsteps easily. She knew how deep they had their foot in the mud and how slow they walked. Or fast, when Mika picked up the pace, time to time.

Eventually, Mika decided to play a little game with the hanyou boy, Inuyasha, whose name she had remembered at the moment. She halted in her walk, listening for four pairs of feet (excluding Kirara and Shippo because they were sitting on Miroku's shoulder) stop as well. Then, she leaped into the air, higher and higher as she forced youki out of her body. Her golden youki stormed onto the floor and then suspended her until Mika cut off the flow.

Light as a feather, she took a step forward, occasionally releasing a little more youki to keep her afloat. When she was high enough to see the Inutachi, she watched them run out of the bushes and glance around the immediate surroundings for her presence. Descending, she landed just the right amount of distance for Inuyasha to see her.

He noticed her instantly and left his team to go after her. Resembling children playing tag, but on a more supernatural level, Mika bounded upward into the sky with her youki and taunted the agile but unaware hanyou into the trees. She would appear for a moment to bring Inuyasha into the direction she once had been before tapping lightly on his shoulder to signify that she was over here.

Finally, when the hanyou was out of breath and Mika was getting tired, she jumped down from the tree and pulled down her mask.

"I sort of expected you to be faster, since you're _his _brother. When _he_ chases me, I get so exhausted," Mika explained, twirling lock of black hair. Inuyasha still had one hand on Tessaiga.

"He? You mean that jerk Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha frowned and approached Mika until he was nearly an inch away from her face. He sniffed and straightened when he identified her aroma. "You were that girl that stuck to Sesshoumaru like honey, weren't you? Why aren't you with him now?"

Mika lost the bubbly sentiment as she conjured up an image of her oh-so-beloved daiyoukai. Kicking a pebble aside, she looked away, unable to catch the gaze Inuyasha was giving her. "Personal stuff."

"Did he try to kill you? I understand how you feel, if that's what he did."

Mika let out a childish giggle. "Well, he's trying _now_. But no, he was… "nice" back then. It's just…"

"Just…?" Inuyasha put both hands on his waist. "Let me guess, he tried to eat you. He is a youkai, after all."

She sighed. The hanyou would never guess it. It was just not in the range of possibilities. The catch was: the impossible had happened. Unless Mika gave Inuyasha an enormous hint (because the hanyou's brain could not comprehend a tiny hint), Inuyasha would never have the slightest idea that somehow, Mika had become pregnant with his brother's children at one time.

"Now enough about Sesshoumaru and me. What about you? Why are you following me even though it was clear I don't want you to follow me?" Mika joined his intimidating pose and copied the "hands on waist" before she finished her sentence. She narrowed her golden eyes at him and raised a cynical eyebrow.

"Er, hello? You look really, suspicious. I get the vibes you're gonna be in trouble or something."

"Excuse me, Hanyou-san, but I can take care of myself very well."

"Uh huh. Well enough to still have my stupid brother chase after you like a cat after a rat. Just stay with us already. Kagome's been bothering me about it."

Mika opened her mouth wide enough to express that Kagome and Inuyasha's concerns had touched her heart, even if it was just a little. With Sesshoumaru and Bankotsu, she had… well, really just barged in. They never really invited her. In the end, Mika was truly, a lonely, lonely girl.

Finally, she held her head up and looked straight into Inuyasha's eyes. There was a subtle amount of similarity with his brother. It was that determination whenever they wanted something or wanted to achieve something. A certain type of stubbornness, you might say. Bankotsu had that too… stubbornness. And stubbornness in a man was Mika's type of man.

She smiled, showing tolerance and appreciation for Inuyasha's offer. "Okay, I'll stay with you guys. Just make sure your friend, the monk doesn't… catch me bathing again."

"Don't worry, Sango's in charge of that. Now let's go back before Kagome starts sit—"

It was too late, for Kagome had already discovered Inuyasha chatting away with Mika like an old friend.

"Inuyasha! Don't you dare pull out that sword! OSUWARI!"

Before Inuyasha could offer an explanation, he was thoroughly dragged by an invisible hand into the ground. The earth seemed to smother him with her brown, tough skin, trying to suck him in a void where air didn't exist. Rocks piled upon his back as he went deeper into the ground. A mild headache began to form.

But it ended. He started to lift himself back up and prepared a barrage of insults for Kagome when he realized she was too busy attending and greeting Mika to hear. Pouting as he brushed off dust and grit, he turned to Miroku and Sango.

"Just watch, Kagome," he whispered, low enough only that his two friends could hear, "I'll get you someday for all these stupid "punishments" you gave me!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

When night fell, Mika expected a sense of nostalgia to weave itself around them, but instead the fire only presented warmth and comfort. Something that Mika fought with Sesshoumaru to gain and lost so easily. Every time she glanced at her new acquaintances, she felt as if her heart had grown lighter in her chest.

Tonight's dinner was herbs and a few fruits they had found hidden in a leaf-woven basket high in the trees. It was a nice change of food for once, because Mika was going to die of fish if it so happened to be served today. Gratefully, Mika accepted the bowl of mashed up fruits and plants. Sure, it looked like feces, but when it was presented from Kagome's hands, she felt as if a king had granted her unlimited sugar cubes.

She lifted the bowl to her nose, where she took in the faint tang of a sweet citrus substance embedded somewhere inside. She opened her mouth and let some of the warmth inside. It was bittersweet, the tastes conflicting each other. But nonetheless, it was delicious. Looking up, she watched as Kagome and Inuyasha glared at each other.

It was adorable… so she kept watching. She glanced at their eyes. They were hiding something, deep within those windows. Like curtains, their childish quarreling covered up the care and affection they had for each other… no, for everyone. Mika's fingers tried to dig at the bowl, but only succeeded at scraping off the paint.

_Do I have… that sort of kindness? _That was the very thought that haunted her. As Mika learned and remembered more of her past, she felt more and more distant to what she wanted to be. She wanted to fall in love. She wanted to hold a hand, cuddle, sit, talk, and be with someone. But every time she saw people like that, heart-wrenching doubts shattered inside her mind. What was a mere puppeteer, a once-a-killer able to be?

Mika knew she had to move on. But after so many tears shed, so many times she made vows; she always, always broke back down. She was always clinging toward to the one thing her hand couldn't wrap around.

And when she couldn't reach for it, she became jealous. She started to have thoughts of hatred toward these people. Yes, she hated Kagome. Despite Kagome's bubbly, kind attitude, she hated how she was able to attain happiness, in some sort of way. Mika knew it was wrong to do so, because surely there were other people in her position that had gone through what she was going through and endured it. But it was so infuriating!

"Mika-san…? You're clutching your bowl… quite tightly," Sango pointed out. Mika blinked and recovered her composure. Glancing back at her bowl, she discovered that Sango was right. The bowl was now scarred by Mika's sharp fingernails.

"Kagome-chan," Mika said, addressing to the middle school girl. "I'm sorry. I sort of wrecked your bowl." Awkwardly, she returned the red plastic bowl back into Kagome's hands and stood up. "I'll take some time alone, if you don't mind."

"I thought you were lonely," Inuyasha called out. Instantly, Kagome hushed him with a look. Now wasn't the time to make jokes.

Mika spun around. "Yes, I am lonely. My solitary feeling is what keeps me alive, what keeps me angry. And when I need it, I'll take it. When I don't need it, I'll shove it away. And right now, I want it very much, thank you."

Then she stormed back into the forest that she had so lovingly exited. This was such an endless cycle. Mika sighed and lay against a tree, arms grasping her knees together. She was about to cry when all of a sudden, the sound of children laughing breached her ears. A light emerged before her, from a nearby pond. Obviously curious, she forgot about being upset and decided to see what the laughter was about.

However, it was a trap. As soon as Mika arrived at the pool, a familiar void made its appearance beneath her feet. She tried to jump into the air but Garando was prepared. Showing off his metal like hand, he slammed her right back into the void. Screaming, Mika shook her head frantically, searching her head for a way to signal her new friends that she was in trouble.

She blinked. It then came to her. She dug her nails into her arm and winced, shutting her eyes. _This was going to be painful,_ Mika thought, and then pulled her nails across her skin. In the time of a twinkling of an eye, the once pearl white skin was tarnished by her scarlet blood. Biting her tongue to keep from screaming (which was what the "old" Mika would've done), she smiled slyly at Garando as she slipped into the abyss. She looked funny, with her tongue between her teeth and her mouth stretched across her face.

But it was a victory assured. Inuyasha and the others would definitely know what had happened, just from that agonizing act.

~O~O~O~O~O~

"_Oto-san… Oto-saaaaaaaaaaaaaan… _please… hurry… I want to go home…"

But what was home? The little boy could not remember how his mother looked like or even what his father's first name was. Was his home big, like a manor? Was he the son of an emperor, a prince? No, he was dressed in rags ever since he was taken away, so he must have been in the poor class.

He sat up, the wall scraping dead skin off his back. All around him, children were decaying into dust, dying of dehydration, or simply so deformed and ugly they hid in the corner. Even though their souls were beautiful to begin with, the lack of light and air turned everything beautiful black. Oh, how they used to worship black and say black charmed the ladies.

The little boy was cold. Why wasn't his father coming? After a while of thinking, it was only logical that his father would come after him. Was he hurt? Did he die before he could be rescued? Or was it… that he ran away?

These thoughts were killing them all. Only the ones with no parents to begin with survived long enough to be taken away into the chamber, where people camouflaged as the darkness forced terrible sounds out of their throats. There was no escape. This was eternal torture, forever repeating until the people got what they wanted.

But the little boy didn't want to die. As a little boy, even though torture was so painful, he was so scared of Death. He wanted to believe that he had a chance out there, someday, to meet his father again. So he kept sitting there, back against the wall, avoiding the hungry and trying to become as small as possible. He sat there, waiting for his father.

Waiting… and waiting.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When Inuyasha's ears moved, that usually meant he heard something very alerting. It was a flickering movement, a simple sound that resembled a very short blow when you wanted to get rid of an ant on your arm. He tensed and stood up, his golden irises aimed at the trees behind him. He sniffed once. Twice. Then he brushed a finger across his nostrils.

Shippo noticed this strange behavior. Approaching the hanyou, he leaped up onto his shoulders and imitated his movements. Then he realized what the matter was.

"Inuyasha… it's the nauseating smell of blood, isn't it?" Shippo asked. Inuyasha nodded, acting composed for once. The hanyou held his head up again and repeated the examination of the air. There was no doubt about it. This blood that had suddenly been conjured up was not coincidental. But whose blood did this belong to?

Thinking hard, he couldn't help but come to the conclusion that the blood belonged to that woman, Mika. There was this way her eyes looked at people, her posture that gave off this aura of bad omen. She must have encountered trouble. Nodding, he putted Shippo onto the floor and took out Tessaiga from its slumber.

"Inu… yasha?" Kagome too stood up, when she spotted the hanyou brandished Tessaiga menacingly. "Where are you going?"

"Somewhere, really quick. I'll be back before night!"

"W-Wait, Inuyasha! Today's the new moon!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

There was a sound behind the walls. It was loud and resembled a "thud", instead of the typical "pitter-patter" of running rats. But it could've also been the sound of the dead corpses being thrown against the wall. So the little boy stayed silent, unmoving, and hidden in the darkness.

Once again, the regularity of the desolate tormented days began. The slow, scraping noise of dry feet loomed in the deformed children. The little boy opened an eye, only one, because if he had two, the nightmare would've been intensified twice. Either way, he saw the huge shadow of a being he could not identify as a woman or a man stand in the center of the light. It blocked almost all source of that whiteness until it reached out for one of the half-dead children. Instantly, darkness insured death for the little boy's eyes and knives at the braveness he had invoked from the very bottom of his heart.

He heard the voice belonging to the large being speak. It was a clipped, deep female voice that spoke. It said, "I will put you out of your misery." But those very words that were supposed to convince the dying child that he truly was going to be granted salvation were so scary, so uncomforting. After all, those teeth—those horrifying teeth that being had!

Oh, it was so sharp, so wet with saliva that had been created from the thought of crunching bones filled with youthful marrow! The lovely screams the children cried, the organs slipping out and the blood dripping, dripping, dripping…

So scary, it was so scary. The little boy tried to scrunch himself smaller inside the corner. Why did they eat them? Why did they have to feast in front of him? Why couldn't they just suffer once and not twice? _Oh, Father, where are you? Please tell me you're going to come rescue me. Please… don't leave me here with these scary, scary creatures!_

He pleaded the silent God above him. He pleaded the gods he had been taught to respect. But every time he took in the stench of the sickening dead, he was still there. The monster already finished its meal, decided to have another. The ugly hand stretched out… and grabbed his shoulder.

"Ooh," the voice growled. "Why are you hiding? I'm not scary at all!"

The little boy shrieked. He slapped at the being, but he was so hungry, so tired. His slapping did not help release the hand that grasped him so tightly. "Let me go!" He raised his hand in the air and was about to bring it down in vainly, when a munch reached his ears. Something wet that belonged to him was trickling down his legs.

"Yummy… but you could do with some salt." The ugly monster pulled out a bottle full of that white powder and showered his finger—which had been broken off by the being's teeth and was now starting to burn—while laughing at the boy. "Well… how does it feel?"

The boy shook his head, trying not to satisfy the thing's need for agony. But his finger was stinging. _Oh, somebody help me_, he thought furiously. All of a sudden, the being seized his chin and forced him to watch as his legs were being eaten next.

"Ha ha ha," the thing said, its face covered in blood. "So delicious… but so thin. Maybe I'll save you for later." As if he were a toy, or a type of snack that could be eaten and preserved anywhere at any time, the being flung him back into the shadows. Licking its chops, the being walked back out into the light when it suddenly let loose its own version of howling.

"I finally caught you," Iken said, as he pulled his soiled rod out of the being. With the other hand, he slammed his fist into the wall. Light that had once been so scarce rushed in and blinded all the children. He looked at the kids before him and sighed.

"I don't think this is right either. But… there's always a bright side to stuff, you know? All right, the ones that can walk get over here." He waited a few seconds, but the children moved not a muscle. They were afraid that he assassin was like the being he had killed; a cannibal who only lived on pain and human flesh. Finally, he raked his spiky hair with his free hand and pointed to the little boy that had just lost his legs and a finger.

"All right, you come with me. You look like you're still jumping." He approached the boy and laid a hand on his forehead. Strangely, Iken's hand felt warm and comforting on his skin. When the little boy passed by the being that had feasted upon his fleash, he realized it was a middle-aged woman. She looked human, but that only for appearances. Shivering, he shut his eyes. _No more! Just leave me alone… let me go home!_

As Iken lured the boy out from his dark haven, the boy began to remember. The memories that had once been so lost, so hard to recall were coming. The light that was once blindly painful was starting to become warm too.

_Father… he's coming to rescue me. I can finally leave_, he thought.

"That's him?" A voice said. It was a female.

The little boy felt Iken's hand leave the boy's head. He reached out, trying to find the assassin's hands again. Without a living being's touch, the boy felt like the white light around him was black. He was blind without the assassin.

Iken's voice said, "Yeah. I know he's beaten up and everything, but he's still got a head."

"Isn't there other children better than him? I mean…"

"Well, unless you want the one with his brain showing…"

The feminine voice stopped talking. Footsteps, lighter than Iken's walked toward the boy. Slender fingers seized the boy's hair and lifted him upward. "Okay, then." He heard the sound of a knife sliding from the girl's hand onto his skin. "This might hurt a bit, okay?"

Then the pointy object was thrust into his stomach. He felt the pain, but the pain was also not there. It was like… pain had become his friend.

"He's not screaming," Iken said. "See, I picked right this time."

"You're right," the girl voice said. "He'll make an excellent _**Grim Reaper**__._"

The little boy closed and opened his eyes. He wanted to see the people before him. So he blinked and blinked until the scene became clear. There were two people—as he suspected from the voices—a girl and a boy. The boy, who was topless as usual, he assumed was Iken. The girl... He looked down and saw a girl with her face painted red with his blood. Her white hair was tied up in buns and she was wearing a black outfit—the cloth of the assassins of Dream.

"Who… are you?" he croaked. It felt so strange to talk.

"I'm Tsurugi. If you need to scream, just tell me. I'll give you something that will put you to sleep."

Another squirt. The girl seemed to be oblivious to the blood that splashed onto her face. Her fast fingers kept on working into his stomach, her eyes overseeing every organ he had still inside. Finally, he felt something poking his heart. Tsurugi stood up and pulled her stained hands out of his stomach. She gestured to Iken to give her something.

"Er, I… I know it's here somewhere."

Suddenly, the boy's numbness disappeared. The air began to hurt and bacteria started to bite away at his open stomach. He shrieked.

"Oh shoot, Iken! He's going to die!" Tsurugi cried. "Where the heck did you put it?"

"I—I—I don't know!" Iken searched his pants frantically for this object that Tsurugi was demanding. Then Iken's eyes brightened, as if he had been acting. But in reality, he had just remembered something.

"Ayumu," Iken said. The very name made Tsurugi cringed.

"You don't think…"

"No, it has to be him. That's why he took Kimiko… that's why he betrayed us. Because his act was no longer needed…" Iken flung his rod at the floor in anger. "That's against everything, isn't it? He's cheating, isn't he?"

Tsurugi slammed a hand over the screaming boy's mouth. Instantly, the boy halted when he tasted the metallic flavor of his blood. "No, it's okay. The rules specifically stated "one traitor". He's that traitor. But anyway, calm down. Garando must have found Kimiko and sent her here, right?"

Iken nodded. A grin of relief spread onto his face. "Yeah! Let me check if she's here yet!"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"_Midoriko-sama, Midoriko-sama! Save us... please save us!_"

For half an hour, Mika heard these voices. Though she could not see who it was because she was just in a long, dark, gritty hallway with two walls on her sides, she felt so scared. The voices were so melancholy and chilling. One thing that made these chants so chilling was the fact that it sounded like a choir consisting of dying children.

Mika gulped the stuffy air into her throat and shook her head. Brushing a lock of black hair behind her ear, she pulled out her Chinese chef knife and clutched it against it her chest for protection. She tried to tell herself in a rhythmic pace that it was going to be all right. But she still kept bumping her knee against the wall, still clumsily making her way through this endless hallway.

All of a sudden, the wall on her right vibrated. "_LET ME OUT! LET ME OOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUT!_"

Slipping onto the ground, she collected her composure by crawling to the left wall, but it too shuddered with the same ferocity. The only source of these sounds was a slamming fist. But could a fist truly hit the wall that hard and not break it down? When the shaking minimized itself to a more comfortable degree, Mika stood back up and continued her pointless trek. She found herself remembering about the gift a goddess she had met had given her. If she recalled correctly, the goddess named herself Midorigami.

_"This fabric will shield you from fire, arrows, and blunt objects. It will tear from edges like your friend's sword, but if you speak "mamoritai", this will become a blanket and embrace you with warmth. If you speak it again, it will turn into a kimono which you can wear, and if you repeat the word one more time, it will return to being a long scarf." The tips of her mouth were upturned when Mika's eyes widened at her present…_

"I wonder why she disappeared," Mika said out loud. Though the sentence was hers, it gave reassurance. Smiling, she decided to be more optimistic and took another step when a blinding light illuminated her eyes. Did she reach the end?

But then, when she felt the light hit her eyes again, someone bumped into her. Landing on her back, she began to sit back up. She stopped when she realized who it was. Scanning the area, she quickly seized her Chinese chef knife and brought it down on the person. The person caught it with his bare hands.

"Hey, that's not very nice to try and hurt your former comrade, Kimiko," Iken cried. He slowly rose to his height, towering over Mika. His orange earrings jingled a deathly tune and she pushed back. Soon, Mika was against the wall, the dull end of her blade pressed against her cheeks. Iken chuckled.

"You look surprised! I thought you would remember what my abilities were." With a wild roar, he let go of the blade and in a split second wrapped his arms around Mika's waist. "Ooh, nice rear end."

"LET ME GO—" Mika said, about to join the chanting behind the walls, when Iken spun around toward the light.

"_YOSHAAAAAAAAAAAA!_" Iken ran into the light. Colors in so many dimensions surrounded her, entering her mouth and ears, then exiting through her eyes. Then Iken's hands let go of her, leaving her free to soar across the air with fostering, rapid speed. Her black-haired head hit the floor, almost forcing her head to crack open.

A hand holding a knife was thrust against her throat. She opened her eyes and immediately identified Tsurugi and some other child hung on a white wall like he was being crucified. She tried to look around for any means of escape, but there was only whiteness, light, and the undeniable faces of her enemies.

"_Oya_, she looks so scared. Heh heh," Tsurugi wickedly teased. Then she wiped off her smile and slid her knife down Mika's black cloth to her stomach. With widening eyes, she thrust her blade into Mika's stomach.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" By now, the screams were a daily routine. Tears, which had began flowing down Mika's cheeks, seemed so old to her now.

Iken grimaced in the background. "Tsurugi, why do you always dissect people like that?" He clenched his nose as the smell of a rotting corpse began to float around. "Why can't you put them to sleep like they do in the future?"

The white-haired girl spun around. "Shaddup! I didn't ask for this ability! I would've gladly traded yours with mine! But since my _Mistress _is the Goddess of—" At that, Tsurugi's sentence was cut off. Just like how Ayumu was, once long ago. Biting her bottom lip, she returned to her work.

"Is she dead already?" Iken asked, cowering in the corner, but curious enough to inch a little closer. He tiptoed to see the scene better.

"No, she's just faking it." Glancing at Mika unsightly, she slapped the girl on the cheek. "Oi, wake up Kimiko. God, you're so bogus."

Opposite to what Tsurugi stated, Mika stayed unresponsive. Iken noticed this right away and tapped Tsurugi's shoulder with a hand over his eyes. "Hey, I think you really killed her."

"No way! I'm telling you, I don't have that kind of power! Well, I do, but I'm not using that…" Tsurugi paused and thought for a moment. Then she stuck her nose into Iken's face, glowering at him with the same denouncing face. "Oi, you sure _you_ didn't kill her?"

"No! No way!"

"Yes, yes way! And you're trying to blame it on me? Don't you dare!"

"Yeah, yeah! You want to fight? I can take you on anytime!"

As the two uncooperative assassins began to quarrel, they forgot about the boy and Mika. They forgot a lot of things, amidst their annoyances, one thing most of all.

Mika was Midoriko's reincarnation. And if she was that legendary reincarnation, she should surely have the gift to steal souls… or deal with her own.

Gradually, when the two assassins' voices slipped away, Mika's eyes returned to its usual golden irises. She sat up, the hole in her stomach closing. She was stupefied, completely unaware of what had happened. Turning around, she found that the assassins were still preoccupied. It was the perfect chance to escape. Deciding to ponder about her luck later, Mika was about to look for the exit when her gaze happened to lie upon the boy.

Mika knew she would feel guilty leaving the boy there to suffer while she made her getaway. So, with the burden of another person to look after, she got him down. With him on her back, she was about to do some desperate escape searching when Iken and Tsurugi finally stopped and remembered their task.

"For Pete's sake, she's getting away!" Tsurugi cried. Pulling out a tiny blade with talismans plastered all over its handle, she wrapped it around with her energy and flung it at Mika. But just at that moment, it was swallowed by one gigantic jaw.

"What is that?" Iken yelled. He leaped toward at the mouth and tried to smash it flat with his rod or electrify it. The rod itself was instantly obliterated. The void from which it came from widened to reveal the enormous head of a huge Underworld hound. Eyes glowing red, it rabidly grasped Iken's hakama with its fangs.

"I'm going to swear like a sailor if this thing drags me to the Underworld!" Iken told Tsurugi.

Just then, Garando arrived. Landing onto the floor from the void, he flipped away the three bangs that covered his eye and focused them on Iken. Holding his hands before him, he summoned a void. Sucking Iken in like a vacuum, the spiky-haired assassin made it with his life—and one less leg.

As Iken plummeted behind Garando, he groaned. "Couldn't you at least have brought my foot back? Now I'll have to walk on a wooden peg…"

Tsurugi hurried to Garando's side. In her panic, she stepped on Iken as she approached Garando. "Hey, that dog that came from the void… it's not yours, right?"

Garando glared at Tsurugi. "Do I look like I have the ability to summon hounds?"

"No, but…"

"Ayumu did it. Again."

The white-haired girl steeled herself and turned to face Mika. The stunned girl backed up as the dog submerged from the floor. When it was out of its hole, its mere paw was ten feet taller than her. Then, the dog opened its mouth and released a massive howl. The blinding light was blown away like a fly. The dream world of white was annihilated as the true edifice was revealed.

Mika recognized the room. The torture weapons, the blood that was no longer washable on the walls and the spikes used to inflict pain on the table. Even the smell was memorable. This was a torture room in the Temple of Righteous Prayer.

And on the dog, a boy of complete violet hair was sitting on top of it. His face was wet with perspiration, as if he had been holding back the heavy sky like Atlas. But nevertheless, he had arrived and become Mika's savior. Mika almost thought she was going to faint.

He looked down at her and smiled. That "oh, it's so strange to see you here" smile. "Come up here, Mika." Mika. He used her current name and not that silly "Kimiko".

"Well… how?"

Ayumu pondered, his purple eyes narrowed. Then he faced her again and told her to stay still. Outstretching his fingers into a stance that resembled a puppeteer's, very thin strings colored slightly amethyst stuck onto her shoulders, arms, and feet. Leisurely, the strings pulled her up with amazing strength until she was sitting on the rough fur of the hound. Her feet dangled against the fur, as she mused at how far she was from the ground.

Then she looked up at the ceiling. How could they fit? This torture room must have been dug very deeply into the ground.

Mika thanked Ayumu and turned around to examine the boy. It appeared to be that he was asleep. Stroking his hair, she was about to see if he had a fever, when the hound suddenly roared and let out a massive puff of air again. Below them, Garando stood erect like a stone as his other two companions did their best to hold onto the ground.

"Hold on tight," Ayumu told Mika. Mika nodded and clutched the fur of the dog. Ayumu frowned. "I meant me."

Mika didn't exactly feeling like holding onto a sweaty Ayumu, but since he saved her life, she decided to oblige. Taking in a deep breath, she slid her arms around his chest and held on as much as she could.

Dark energy seeped from cracks in the floor. These black wisps shot out and grappled all ends of the dog. With mounting force, a void to the Underworld opened and dragged the beast under.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The Underworld was a big, black world. There was no light, but Mika could see Ayumu clearly. There was no floor, but the dog was just walking, ignoring the tornados around them. Time to time, Mika would look up to see if the hole they went through was there. But there was only blackness, as usual. Frowning, she would then pat the little boy's head and then quickly embraced Ayumu again to keep from falling.

When the spinning winds around Mika and Ayumu ended, the canine disappeared. However, instead of falling, Mika and Ayumu simply hovered down to the eternal blackness. Surprisingly, the blackness felt like balmy cotton. Then, the assassin boy told Mika it was fine to let go.

Mika removed her arms from Ayumu's waist. She was about to ask him a thousand questions, but decided to scream when her line of vision caught a colossal man bound in a bubble ahead of her. But her scream was cut short when Ayumu slapped her. She sat back up, shocked and irritated.

However, Ayumu's face wasn't of disdain. It was of admiration. With one hand, he stroked her cheek and smiled at her.

"I missed you," he said.

"Why did you disappear?" Mika asked. Ever since she had returned from a horrifying experience with the Master of the Underworld, he was gone from her life. Not that she particularly cared, but it was certain that if she didn't start, things would continue to go bad for her.

Ayumu stared at her longingly for a moment before turning around. Pointing to the man Mika was so frightened of; he explained to her that the Master of the Underworld was behind that bubble.

"To keep you from dying for real, I gave up my freedom. Using all my powers of illusions, I put the Master of the Underworld into a tormenting dream…" He glanced at Mika. "But you were in trouble, so I left my cage. If I didn't make it back in time, he would…"

The hand he was stroking her cheek with slipped behind her neck. He leaned in. His purple, deep eyes were preventing her from looking anywhere else. She could already feel his breath on her chin, the tension building up as he tried to lock his lips with hers…

But Mika was being a little bit too conceited.

"_Midoriko…_ I love you…"


	77. Episode 77

**Author's Note: FINALLY! AN UPDATE! **

**Everyone: WHAT THE HECK? IT'S BEEN LIKE WHAT, TWO MONTHS UNTIL AN UPDATE? (I like to exaggerate. Except in this case, it might not be exaggeration. o_O)**

**Me: Er... yes. You see, I was busy-**

**Everyone: NO YOU WERE NOT BUSY! YOU WERE JUST BEING LAZY!**

**Me: I had writer's block-**

**Everyone: NO YOU DIDN'T YOU WERE JUST LAZY!**

**Me: I was thinking of ways to continue the story after Episode 77-**

**Everyone: JUST HURRY UP IN THE FUTURE!**

**Me: ...All right you win. Yes, I know I took a while. But I finally... FINALLY HAD THE MOTIVATION TO FINISH IT UP! And I like it... because I brought out an old friend. Mr. Cliffhanger. Well, not really but... it's cliffy enough. Now enjoy your delayed Episode 77. Hope there's enough trolling in it for you. AND MAKE SURE TO LEAVE REVIEWS! GOSH, I REALLY WANT REVIEWS! EVEN IF IT'S LIKE "WHAT IN THE WORLD I JUST READ EPISODE 77!"**

* * *

Episode 77: Moving Forward in Life

"Stop it," Mika cried. Shoving Ayumu away, tears trailed down her face. Again… again she related events happening _now_ to what had happened in the _past_.

The emotion inside her heart was sudden, and came without a notice. Like the wing of a seagull, memories of the days she spent time with Sesshoumaru flickered on and off. Especially that night, where she was in such pain, yet being by Sesshoumaru's side healed so much. He was so strong, so cold, but he was the sun that melted down the ice loneliness had surrounded her.

The pain that came when her sun rejected her was unbearable. When Ayumu tried to kiss her, like Sesshoumaru did before she "died", all these days just relived themselves inside her. And so, the agony stabbed at her heart, mercilessly.

"Mika…?" Then he blinked and instantly read her expression. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything." He reached out and laid a hand on her head. "I'm sorry… forgive me. Forgive me, Mika. I really… I can't believe I let it take over me again. Even when I know you're so vulnerable right now…"

For several minutes, Mika sat there with Ayumu stroking her hair, watching her force the defiant salt water back into her eyes. When they were all gone, Mika collected all of the questions into one mashed up sentence to which she relayed to him.

"Who are you?"

The Underworld hound growled from behind Ayumu. Baring his teeth, he raised a paw to swipe Mika's head off her neck for just uttering those words when Ayumu blocked it with his arm. Ayumu's eyes gleamed with the understanding of the situation he was in. He knew Mika knew there was something the assassins were hiding. Something that they were forbidden to say, something that if they said or even hinted—they were to consider their lives forfeited.

And Mika knew that Ayumu knew that she knew. She also knew that since he had come so far—disobeying his supreme commander, betraying his peers, and even "bringing her back to life"—why not go all the way? Yes, Mika knew that was a selfish thing to think of, but heck with it. Mika had been selfish all her life.

"Why are you hesitating?" she asked. Backing away, she pointed to the boy prostrating behind her. "Is it because of him?"

"No, it's just that…" Ayumu avoided gazing into Mika's eyes. "It's forbidden."

"Wasn't it forbidden to help me?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Ayumu, you told me before you disappeared—that I was supposed to solve these strange things. I didn't understand a word you said to me—not now, not ever! Please, you've got to tell me something!" She threw her arms around him. "I'm tired!"

Ayumu closed his eyes and returned the embrace. "So am I, Mika. But you don't care what happens to me? Aren't I your savior?"

Mika glared at him, stone-cold. _I used to have one. His name was Sesshoumaru. But he's gone now. So no,_ she thought.

"I see," Ayumu said, as if he had read her mind. "So I don't mean a thing to you. Even if my skin is torn off of me bit by bit, my blood drained out of its veins, my head being minced to hamburger patties, you don't care! Has it already been going to your head?" Sniffling, he covered his face with his hands and turned around, pacing in circles, wondering whether he should take this reward-less risk.

"No matter what you did for me, you're my enemy. I've resolved never to forgive my enemies!"

"No, Mika. You can't be this way. You were kind back then, you cared. Why?" The boy turned around, his violet eyes searching Mika for an answer. He threw his hands at her, feeling angry. "Is Sesshoumaru really that important to you?"

Mika trembled at that name. "Don't say his name! Don't…!"

Ayumu bit his lower lip and seized Mika's hair. He was about to hit her or do something to make her realize her stubbornness at the harsh reality, but she seemed so heartbroken. Her golden irises were windows to her fragile struggle inside to accept truth. If he slapped her, it would be like breaking the porcelain doll of a young child.

Yes, she was comparable to a child. Maybe it was because she had amnesia the very start of this story. Without any comprehension of the world, any maturity, you suffer from misunderstanding life. That is the definition of a child. But a child, in many ways, is smarter and wiser than an adult. They are susceptible to things they see and learn faster.

And right now, Mika was being forced by twisted life to learn that love doesn't last. The child inside Mika, that was supposed to have been grown, is again being forced into maturity.

Ayumu released his hold on Mika and softened his tone. Calming her down with small talk a father would've given to his son, he decided to spoil her like a father does with his children. He'll give her what she wants… even if she doesn't give anything back.

"I'll tell you then. I'll tell you who I really am. But even if I do… you won't understand. You're still a child at heart. You don't have the experience I have... that I have built up over so many of these years… Do you still want to know?"

"Of course I do!"

Ayumu sighed. "I'm the son of the Master of the Underworld. I'm… a _god._"

Immediately, a black ring around his neck formed. The ring was created with symbols that didn't belong to any alphabet, only symbols that gods or God would've understood. But Mika didn't need to read anything—she knew instinctively, this was what Ayumu meant by forbidden.

But Ayumu ignored the ring and kept on talking. Perhaps he knew this was to happen. That he might as well rush it all out before he died.

"The Assassins of the Dream were created by shifted events of fate. Whenever something goes wrong with destiny, the Assassins will emerge and fix the system with powers higher than humans. Naturally, the Assassins are granted powers reflective to the gods that wield the power to change fate." He stared into Mika. "But you, Mika, you're not a god. You're different from us."

"Who am I?" Mika asked, her eyes focused upon Ayumu all this time. She truly was absorbing all of this like a sponge.

"You are the reincarnation of Midoriko. As you may have known, Midoriko was the mother of the Shikon no Tama. The Shikon no Tama can grant any kind of wish… and that jewel is an object that carries the power only granted to gods. When Midoriko created it with her mere soul… she became a god.

"When we discovered that, we felt as if there was something wrong. A normal human can't just become a god all of a sudden. So we started investigating… collecting children from villages, inflicting curses to see if they would form another "god"… until you escaped from us.

"You, a reincarnation of a perfect being, succumbed to feelings only capable of human beings. And the human beings weren't perfect… so why? I followed you… and fell too. From that point on, I had a feeling I was a traitor already. Anyway, that day, you forced me to give you back your heart. If I did that… we would lose the only key to figuring out how Midoriko became a god. But I did anyway and told the others that you ran away of your own accord. And Izuru, who probably knew everything, watched you and me, in the shadows of the so-called Temple of Righteous Prayer.

"Finally, he probably figured out who had truly let you go and began to search you out. I noticed and tried to make you come back, so things would be okay again. But Izuru has no intention of having you back… he has another motive." Then, Ayumu's mouth closed. He seemed reluctant to say anymore again.

Mika clawed at his shirt. "Ayumu, there's more, isn't there? Tell me the rest! Why does Izuru want me dead?"

"I can't say anymore. Look again, at the being behind us." Ayumu turned around and gestured to the mountainous man behind the bubble. "As I have said, he's the master of this realm. My father. I may have him trapped in an eternal dream… but if I stay awake too long, he'll wake up. Because I came from his flesh, his blood, he will be more than furious." His hand tenaciously touched his neck, as if the marks were bumps. "I shall probably be erased faster than my expected time."

For a minute, Mika was going to shrug and say, "So what?" But then she realized something. Even though Ayumu knew Mika was trying to seem cold and tough so that she would never be hurt again, he helped her. Knowing he was to be revoked forever from life because of his betrayal to his comrades, commander, and even his own father, he still assisted Mika. With an undying love for Mika—or rather, for Midoriko—he made sure she was on the right path.

So Mika kept her "itchy" mouth shut. She closed all exits for her atrocious thoughts to come out of, and put an understanding hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "But I won't take back my words."

Ayumu grinned, a sad, hopeful grin. "No problem. I don't take back anything either. I carry no regret. Even if I do, I just need to snap my fingers and sleep in a fun dream. Now, I'll have Jin, the hound take you back up to the surface. As long as you don't open your eyes, you won't take back any of the dead aura up with you."

"You're staying here, aren't you?"

"I have to. If he manages to wake up, he won't just kill me and you. He'll take all the living inside, trying to annihilate his suffering, but it only increase. Then that would make the higher gods angry and a war will start on this Earth. The world is on the palm of my hand. Now go." He pushed her toward the direction of the dog.

Mika was about to reach for the dog's muzzle when she remembered about the boy they had taken along. "What about him? He seems to be asleep…"

"Let him be. He can't live."

"Why?" Then Mika shook her head. "Never mind. I'll just take him along."

"Mika, you can't. He'll—"

"It's okay! He's just a boy! And he's been injured!"

"The assassins were trying to turn him into a god! He'll die anyway!"

Mika clenched her fists. "He looks like he's been lonely all his life. Just like I was. I can't leave him here to just kick the bucket!" She dragged him onto her shoulders and climbed up the growling beast. Shutting her eyes, she dug one arm into Jin's fur so she wouldn't fall off. All the while, Ayumu watched disapprovingly.

Then with the upmost reluctance, he nodded to the beast to take off. Using all of its muscles hidden behind its matted black fur, it leaped a magnificent leap back to the world of living. Ayumu looked at the distancing figure wistfully.

~O~O~O~O~O~

There's a serious contrast in the air in the Underworld compared to the air of the living. When Mika, who still had her eyes shut and arms wrapped around the dog, was shot out of a portal that opened in the sky, she felt very heavy. Arms stiff, she was about to fall off if the dog hadn't moved. As the dog flew farther and farther from the Temple of Righteous Prayer, the weight subsided.

All of a sudden, she heard a familiar voice. It was at first, soft and extremely hard to make out, but when the dog landed on the floor, Mika identified the voice to be Inuyasha's. As the bare footsteps of the hanyou neared, the dog let out a short growl and disappeared with the incoming breezes.

Then he came out. He looked like had been running for a while. But there was something strange. He was tired. Inuyasha was always overly hyper and screaming.

So, Mika reasoned, this wasn't him. Back against the tree, she held on arm over the boy protectively and the other brandishing her knife dangerously.

"Get away, you impersonator!"

"What the heck? I come here running after you because I smelled your blood and you're trying to hurt me?"

Like a light bulb from the future, something went off in Mika's brain. She put down the knife and scratched her head sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just that you're kind of strange."

"Huh? I'm strange?"

"For example, you're actually tired. Look, you're sweating."

"I sweat! It's a natural thing!"

"And your tongue is hanging out."

"My what—?" He put his tongue back in. "Shut up."

"Won't."

"Fine. I'll just leave you out here while I go back."

"You sure, Mr. Hotshot?"

"Temee…"

"Hai, hai. Now give me a hand and help me wake this boy up." Turning around, Mika studied the boy. He had been asleep all this time. It was weirder than weird, because normally one would awake when pulled down into the Underworld and dragged back out. But his eyes were shut tightly. His brown hair, which covered his forehead in jagged fringe bangs, were plastered to his face as if they were glued there. Absentmindedly, she stroked the boy's cheek and found it cold. Icy cold.

In fact, Mika's hand, which was filled with running warm blood woke him up.

"NO! NO MORE!" the boy yelled, as he slapped Mika's hands as hard as his frail limbs could until they left his cheek. Then he tried to retreat even farther into the ground, shutting his eyes and whispering "go away" over and over. It seemed to Mika that the boy was awfully paranoid. Was it the light?

They both stood there in silence, not knowing what to say or do. If they touched him or tried to soothe him down, he would either run away or become even more closed. _But we have to do something,_ Mika thought.

After a while, Mika decided to try to small talk with the boy. Kneeling down, she put on the smile she always showed Sesshoumaru when she goofed up and asked, "So, what's your name?"

The boy ignored Mika's friendly attempt and only clawed at the gravel in his fist tighter.

"Do you know where you come from? Your parents?"

Again, silence. But Mika was used to it. Sesshoumaru was an expert at dodging questions with silence.

"You were taken from home, weren't you? It must have been hard…"

All of a sudden, the boy stopped trembling and released his hold on the dirt. He tentatively slid upward, the tree trunk supporting him as he tried to stand up. Blinking with one hand still on the tree, he twisted his head around and saw Mika for the second time.

A cool breeze came and picked up the leaves. It also picked up the straight-cut bangs of Mika's black hair, revealing her white forehead and hazel-specked eyes that were actually brown. The boy locked his eyes with hers and then looked at her face as whole. He then raised a finger to trace Mika's oval face.

When he seemed to be satisfied with his examination of Mika's face, he turned his head back to the tree. In a voice that was oddly strong, even with the appearance of an ill boy, he asked if Mika was a miko.

"I… used to be. How do you know?" Mika replied.

The boy played with a tiny splinter sticking out of the tree trunk. A caterpillar crawled out of an opening in the tree, fat and slimy from a pleasant meal of three leaves. He let it crawl over his finger. "I knew someone who looked like you. That was a priestess. That's all."

"Oh. Um." Mika licked her lips for the umpteenth time, although they were already quite wet with her saliva. She cleared her throat and stood up, feeling awkward to be still kneeling when the person she was conversing with was on his feet. "I'm Mika. Hashi Mika."

"Like chopsticks?" The boy's voice told Mika he was surprised.

"I don't really know. Maybe. Chopsticks Mika… hahaha."

"Mm," the boy said. In the background, Inuyasha sat against the trunk and let out a sigh. Instantly, the little comfort the boy gained from Mika's stubborn and pointless sentences vanished.

"Who's there? A youkai? Are you with a youkai?"

Before Mika could try to save the situation, Inuyasha glowered at the scared boy clinging to the tree. "Just tell us your stinking name before I run you through with Tessaiga!"

Obviously frightened to the bone, the boy lost all power in his legs and collapsed to his knees. "No! Oto-san, _taske de_!" he shrieked, clasping his hands over his head.

Mika returned Inuyasha's menace with her own. "Did you have to go and do that?"

"Yes, yes I had to! This is taking too long! We need to know right away if he's a good guy or someone Naraku just threw at us to play puppets with!"

"He's a good guy! Does he look bad to you? And what's with you connecting everything with Naraku?"

"Because Naraku's a bad guy and everything that stinks up is all his fault!"

"Stink? The only one who stinks is you! Stop being a tyrant for once!" Mika walked over to the boy and hugged him. "It's okay, I won't let that meanie hurt you."

"M-Meanie? What the heck? I am—"

"Oh, just shut up! You're so annoying! Just like your stupid brother!"

Inuyasha gritted his teeth against each other before really pulling out Tessaiga. "Say that again, you ugly, short person!"

"Person? You're talking to Mika-sama here!"

"Mika my butt! I'm going to run you through too!"

"Lame-o! Go ahead! I've seen worse! One time, Sesshoumaru hung me on a tree and threw me into the pool while I was—"

All of a sudden, Mika bit her tongue. It wasn't intentional, but a few seconds later, she congratulated herself mentally for her clumsiness. She couldn't go announcing that Sesshoumaru's little brother was an uncle now, could she? Besides, he didn't even know that she knew his revolting older brother until now.

The once-a-miko held onto the boy tighter. Why couldn't she think before opening her mouth? She was always like this, always! Dumb, dumber, and stupid. Oh, and don't forget, annoying and weak.

But the fang of Inu no Taishou never met her skin. In fact, Inuyasha seemed to be afraid rather than angry. Mika suddenly had a hunch he was hiding something. A secret? She lessened her grip on the shaking boy and almost giggled. _Oh, don't I just LOVE juicy secrets._

"Oh yeah…" The hanyou's voice was growing smaller and smaller. "Today… is… the new moon…" He slid down against a tree and sheathed Tessaiga, which had shrunk into a rusty old sword.

Mika started to get a little bit worried. What was the matter with him? "Hey, you okay?"

"Go away. I'm fine."

But he wasn't. Because in that instant, his silver hair turned black. The ears that sat upon his head proudly, that picked up every sound in the distance vanished. The nails that resembled tiny blades became dull. Like the time Sesshoumaru was unbelievably a helpless human, Inuyasha faced the invisible moon with his new appearance.

Mika gaped with an open mouth for while. He almost seemed tame now. The boy who had his head against Mika's chest was also surprised. Inuyasha was the only one who acted as if this was normal. Well, it was for him, but Mika had never seen a hanyou transform… to his human form.

"Yeah, go ahead and stare, stupid girl," Inuyasha snapped. "I know I'm good-looking."

Mika bit her lower lip, which suddenly itched. She didn't know what to say. Then: "We won't tell anyone."

"It doesn't matter. Anyone that comes after me when I'm like this I'll just beat to a pulp. Just because I'm a human now doesn't mean I can't beat you up."

The boy stared at the ground. "Are you still going to beat me up?"

"Huh? Forget it, I don't really care anymore."

"Good," Mika said. Silence.

Then it began to get chilly. Mika released the boy and told Inuyasha that she was going to get some wood for a fire. He only grunted. The boy still looked uneasy.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Bankotsu held a hand before Nagato. "Stop."

"Huh?"

"I just know you're going to say something. Your breath is longer when you do start to open your mouth."

Nagato pouted. She kicked a rock and seized Bankotsu's arm anyway. "Ban-chan, you're so mean. Do you want a kiss?"

"Just stay away from me!"

"I know you want a kiss! Come on, Ban-chan—"

But again, he just shoved her away. He didn't have time for her flirty actions. As much as he didn't want to admit, he wanted to find Mika as soon as possible. Nagato's story really stunk like dead fish. If she was the killer, she might lie… but with Banryuu against her neck, the truth will come spilling out quicker than a waterfall.

"Wait a minute," Bankotsu said. Nagato, who immediately grabbed his arm again, smiled at him hopefully. Maybe he did want a kiss after all. Of course, that was completely wrong.

The reason by Bankotsu asked for a minute from nobody in particular was because he was in front of a very familiar building. It was very strange, because surely when he was traveling with Mika for a bit and then with Kyoko and now with Nagato, he was walking away from it. How in the world did he make a complete circle, or triangle, or rectangle, or whatever polygon he made, to get back to the dreaded Temple of Righteous Prayer?

Bankotsu rolled his eyes and glared at Nagato. With the light-brown haired girl, it was almost as if Mika was there. This got her off his arm.

"So what's the matter?" Nagato questioned, when Bankotsu seemed to cool down a bit.

"Well, this place is like the dung birds let out when they see you. Only worse."

"Why?"

Bankotsu laughed. The laugh, was fake, an imitation of what he would have done when he was alive. But it convinced Nagato that he was her prince in any case. "Well, Nagato, go in and see."

"Not if you come with me," she pleaded, clasping her hands together and giving him the puppy-eyes look. The mercenary boy ignored her charms and took a step forward. Right there and then, he decided it was time to get rid of this temple for good. With his deadly skills, it wouldn't take more than an hour. Besides, it would be a great way to shut Nagato up.

He let Banryuu slide down his back and to the floor. The gleam of the blade almost blinded Nagato's eyes.

But before he could start his mass murder, Tsurugi and Iken stepped out of the temple doors. As usual, they were donned in the usual black. However, they weren't surprised to learn that Bankotsu had once again revisited their doom-filled home. In fact, they looked like they were expecting it. As if Destiny had used its slippery, clever fingers to lure Bankotsu here.

Iken spoke first. "Hi, what's up?"

"The sky," Bankotsu answered.

"Ha ha, the cute boy has such a nice way of making people laugh. So anyway, can I ask you something?" Tsurugi commented.

"Like what am I doing here? I'd like to know."

"Don't know your sense of direction?"

"Maybe you guys put some kind of curse on me or something."

"Or maybe you were just following your new sweetheart," Tsurugi replied.

Bankotsu scowled. "You're not talking about Mika, are you?"

Tsurugi smiled her nasty grin. Why did villains have such wicked smiles? Why couldn't they be polite and kind once a while? "Perhaps. That girl's been depressed ever since her crush rejected her bad time. And most of the time, to get out of such a situation is to fall in love again."

"Hello? I'm a zombie. Can't fall in love," Bankotsu snapped. He lifted the heavy Banryuu and charged at Tsurugi. Shockingly, when he brought down Banryuu onto her face, she didn't even flinch as she pulled out a tiny knife. From that single action, Bankotsu knew that they were trained very well. It was instinct that saved her life.

The female assassin kept on making small talk as if being charged at by a murderous guy was nothing. "Really? Is that so?" The hand that was holding the knife clutched harder. With an effortless gaze, she pushed back the sword. "You think there's no way to truly be alive again, do you?"

"I've been dead and revived three times. It's impossible. The only thing that will save me now is the breath of blissful slumber."

"How poetic. It doesn't make sense, but it's poetic. I like poetic men. And so, because you're so adorable and wise, let's make a deal."

"Does it involve your head and your partner's?"

"Uh, no, but it involves the way to become "human" again. Sound interesting?" Tsurugi winked at him and flicked a thin wire at him. Twisting it in complicated ways, she spun the wire around his neck and his limbs, then leapt away. As he stood there bound, she shoved the sword down to the ground with her foot.

"Okay, so, here it is. We fight. If I win, I'll tell you how to become alive again. If you lose, I'll kill Nagato and never let you die… again. And believe me, I can do that."

Behind her, her comrade backed up her claim. "It's true!"

Bankotsu smirked. "I'll take any deal as long as I can get rid of you."

Tsurugi let out a little giggle. "Good, good! Garando, take us to the underground chamber. A battle should take place at a death arena, shouldn't it?"

Meanwhile, Nagato stood there firm. She knew right away that these black figures were baddies, but she didn't know how to react to them since Bankotsu took the initiative and attacked them. Part of her wanted to call him a fool and the other wanted to praise him. Either way, she was still standing there as Garando hovered in the air, one arm poised as he created a portal that swallowed Tsurugi and Bankotsu.

When the last black wisp of the portal vanished, Nagato finally glanced at Iken and Garando. She had certainly beaten Honou, but that was only because Honou let her cockiness get the best of her. Iken and Garando seemed to be more in self-control than their red-headed teammate. And she knew that escape was not an option.

After a while of glaring, Nagato threw down the pack of cooking utensils onto the floor beside her. Cracking her knuckles, she asked them, "So, are you going to kill me too?"

"Yeah, why not?" Iken said. Then he frowned. "The reason why Honou's not here is because you, right?"

"Now why would that be? I'm just a pretty young girl who happens to love Ban-chan."

Iken pulled out his electrical rod out of nowhere. Gripping it tightly, he used it as a pointer as he relayed his theory to Nagato. "Honou used to be my partner until Kimiko abandoned us. I know her better than anyone else. She would never go after someone to kill… she was an assassin who only killed when her prey came to her. And she had a habit of killing the women first before the men, so that the men would be in agony by the time she killed them!"

Nagato rolled her head around, her neck making cracking sounds as she loosened up those sore muscles. "Ban-chan's pretty impulsive, if you haven't noticed."

"Well, you're pretty suspicious," Iken growled.

"So you want to kill me because you think I killed her? I thought assassins threw away all feelings! Wouldn't your leader think vengeance is a silly thing?"

Iken grimaced even deeply at the mention of "leader". When Ayumu was still in the team, he respected him. But now he was a traitor. All because he let feelings that weren't supposed to exist take the better of him. So if the leader went astray, why couldn't he step out of the line a little too?

"We don't have a leader anymore!" Iken shouted, jumping into the air and bringing down his staff. Nagato took a step backwards, snatching the backpack and swinging it at the enemy as she dodged the electrical charge.

Iken grabbed a hold of her hand and sprained it before he could get hit by the heavy bag. Yelling out in pain, Nagato let go of the backpack and fell to the ground.

"Yeah, it hurts huh?" He seized a handful of her hair and held her up from the ground. "You thought I'd go down easily like her? Did you?"

"N-No!" Nagato cried out, feigning innocence as best as she could. "Please let me go, it hurts!"

"I know. I know it hurts. That's why I'm doing it!" Iken slammed the rod into her stomach. A splash of blood from Nagato's mouth flew onto the assassin's chin. As Nagato began to cough, Iken hit her again, this time releasing a charge that shocked her from head to toe. Then he swung his arm back and flung her at the temple walls.

The bruises Honou had given her when she had threw Nagato a while again started to open as cuts. Suddenly, the aches in her legs and arms that had disappeared when she was with Bankotsu hurt again. The pain in her head, combined with the pain from the shock and the old and new bruises added up together. It was so painful, Nagato blacked out.

Iken jumped next to her. When he poked her shoulder but she didn't move, he confirmed to him silently that he had done his deed. Nodding to Garando, who had watched the scene emotionlessly, the green-haired assassin transported both of them to somewhere else.

It wasn't long until the clueless monks that occupied the temple found Nagato. After a while of discussing, they identified her as one of the children from a village the entire temple knew all too well and decided to bring her in to study.

~O~O~O~O~O~

When you have a hanyou in your team, especially one that tended to do things without thinking it over for at least one second, things can get panicky all time. All your teammates will be cranky, crabby, and did I mention cranky? In any case, things will get even worse if you encounter problems.

Especially if one of these problems involve your weapon breaking.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? The group consisting of Inuyasha's allies was struggling to track down the hanyou. After running for quite a while, or rather, Kirara flying across the forest, Sango encountered a dragon.

"_DOKO DA?_ WHERE IS THAT HUMAN GIRL?" the dragon howled. The beast opened his mouth and breathed, spreading a horrid, acid-like substance across the trees. Swiftly pulling her mask down onto her chin, Sango shut her eyes and hid in Kirara's fur as the nekomata flew higher to avoid the humid air.

As Sango sat upon Kirara, eyes squinting to see the dragon in the distance, she studied the dragon so she could determine its weakness. It was a golden dragon, the hue of its scales a great giveaway that it used to be a leader of a flock of dragons. But Sango knew it wasn't a leader anymore—let alone alive. The scales were surely golden, but it looked fake, dead. Even the eyes of the dragon shone a nasty, ill color of purple. And the marks around the neck and limbs showed that it had once been decapitated.

"What is a dragon doing here?" Sango said aloud, one hand already gripping Hiraikotsu. "Either way, it's pretty annoying." Kirara bared her fangs, signifying that she agreed.

Then, Sango patted Kirara's head softly. "I'm sorry, but can you fly me closer, Kirara? I'm going to try to see if I can kill him in one shot. After all, as we were flying by, I saw that his neck was injured badly. I'm sure that's his weak spot."

Without a sound from Kirara, the nekomata "ran" toward the dragon, her paws soaring on an invisible road in the air. As she neared, the dragon spun around, its nostrils flaring and its fangs bleeding. Its eyes surveyed Sango.

Then it laughed a gruff laugh, the putrid breath that he created by laughing stinging Sango's eyes, even if they were shut tightly.

"So you came after me, woman. Did my little taunts about your brilliant past hurt you? Ha ha ha!" the dragon sneered.

Sango arched her eyebrows and spun Hiraikotsu a few times before she launched it. _Who in the world is this bakemono talking about?_

The dragon blinked as white foam slid out from his eyes. "Going to kill me? Your mercenary friend couldn't even finish the job! Ha ha, what a fool. A dragon has more than one life!"

_The only mercenaries I know are long dead, _Sango thought, the Shichinintai coming to mind. But what did this have to do with anything? The youkai taijiya shook her head and patted Kirara to signal her that it was time to take the risk and flit by the dragon so that Sango could aim at the dragon.

With equal menace, Kirara growled at the dragon and dashed toward the dragon, flames dancing behind her. Sango readied Hiraikotsu once more.

Kirara darted around the dragon so that they were hovering behind the gigantic figure's back. Throwing her arm back, Sango flung her boomerang.


	78. Episode 78

**Author's Note: YES! I FINALLY UPDATED! Yes, it's 1000 words less, but an update! An update to show that I haven't abandoned this story and leave Yuti-chan (who's the only one reading it by the way) in frustration that I wrote 80+ chapters that were going nowhere! I left a little something at the end, nothing much. In fact, it's been so long since I've updated, I don't feel so proud of this anymore. But at least I'm getting closer to the surprise ending, which I am itching to get to. But at this pace, we're going nowhere! We need some BIG DRAMA (that doesn't involve Mika crying and trying to grow up, because she'll never anyway) that will move that story!**

**Do you know what that means?**

**...**

**TIME FOR SOME DEATHS! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! (No, I'm kidding.)**

**All I'm going to say is that prepare for some fluff. And some deaths. And some drama. Later. On. I mean. Yeah.**

**...Okay, okay, I'll stop with this author note and let you read. In the meantime, I'll be frantically trying to start the next episode, which will hopefully go somewhere. :) Happy reading!**

* * *

Episode 78: Seeing the True Worth

The evidence of victims being tortured and maimed to death was clear in the battle arena. It was very simple, very smelly, and very dirty. There weren't any tools and there was only a fence that separated the audience from the ones inside the arena. Garando's supernatural void transported them, Bankotsu and Tsurugi, to the inside of the arena, which was locked tight with chains and traps. The only way out was to kill the enemy.

"It's been a while since I've been so hyped up for a battle. Aristocrats don't exactly put up much of a fight, you know," Tsurugi said as she landed on the floor first, as graceful as a gazelle. Bankotsu soon followed, the wire still binding his legs and arms. He landed with his face slamming into the dirt before his body came along.

With a flick of her wrist, the wire released its hold on Bankotsu. Then the black void closed, but not before spitting out Banryuu, the enormous blade that Bankotsu used to fight with. As he got up, Tsurugi shined her knives and little blades with her breath and saliva.

"So, let me ask you something that's been on my head for a while. You guys have a sense of loyalty toward each other, right?" Bankotsu asked, stalling time while he got his bearings.

Tsurugi stifled a laugh. "Huh? I could care less if Garando died. Though it would be kind of tough without his handy teleportation."

"Garando? Why not Iken?" Bankotsu walked to Banryuu and picked it up effortlessly.

"Because Garando is my partner. Iken isn't. In fact, Iken doesn't even have one, now that Kimiko is gone." She glanced at Bankotsu, who let the silence drag. Then she added, "You know, Mika. Mika was Ayumu's partner… and Honou was Iken's."

"I see. Do you guys have some kind of weird partner system?"

Just then, Tsurugi leapt at Bankotsu and spun her wires at him again. Of course, Bankotsu wouldn't fall for the same thing again and cut them through before they caught him in a web. As his sword's edge touched the floor, Tsurugi locked her legs around his neck, and tried to twist his head off. Unfortunately, his head was thicker and stronger than she thought.

The sword left the floor. The tip of the bloodthirsty blade met with Tsurugi's waist and almost severed it from her legs. But when it seemed to be an easy victory, she disappeared like a mirage… and popped up from behind Bankotsu, knife in hand.

She hacked at him viciously, relentlessly, and threw in kicks in the middle of her combos. Bankotsu's back began to near the fence. _The old "corner him" tactic, huh?_

And old it was—Bankotsu had been faced with this strategy more than a thousand times. It was especially popular when you were fighting in a full-fledged war with platoons and soldier groups coming at you with javelins and spears. When he was just an inch away from the fence, which was surely infected with germs and nasty viruses no one wanted due to rust, memories of spiky edges ramming into his sides rushed into him.

Adrenaline, a good friend of his, was also pumping through his body. His senses became more alert. The speedy and deadly assassin now seemed so sluggish. He raised Banryuu into the air and then brought it down when her arm extended toward him as a punch.

Surprisingly, she didn't shout or stop attacking. Even as her arm collapsed onto the floor like an unwanted limb, she still leaped into the air and launched a flying kick into his face. Bankotsu dodged—and she missed, hitting the fence and scraping her knee from the unlinked chains. The predator was now the cornered prey. In defense, she grinned and pulled out another knife from her endless supply of weapons.

Bankotsu spun around and watched her from his position for a bit, tense and observant of every move she made. When she didn't move, he started to think of how she managed to teleport. Was she psychic? Maybe she gained youkai powers from something. That something was probably what he should aim for.

But what? He shook his head and charged, deciding that the truth would reveal itself if he just went along with the flow. In less than a second, Banryuu crushed the ground and smashed half of the fence into smithereens. He pulled the sword up from the debris and found no assassin there. Instantly, he knew that she teleported again—

_WAPHING! _

He turned around and saw the limb that he had slashed off clutching a knife. It was just an ordinary knife, an exact replica of the ones Tsurugi pulled out from an imaginary dimension. A sharp, plain blade with a red cloth tied around the hilt. Nothing special. Or was it?

The sound of a metallic object striking the fence or something equally hard rang again. Then the hand that grasped the knife so tightly let go and regenerated. The arm grew longer and longer until it became the right shoulder he had severed it from. Then the neck sprouted out and branched off to form the other shoulder, waist, legs, and feet. The head came last.

And it was the nastiest regeneration he had ever seen. The bone just pulled itself out of the neck's flesh like a white spider's leg, the nerves and cartilage that bonded the thing together. When the bone was about to form an uneven, oval sphere, a grey, spaghetti-like mass jumped up from the neck and made itself cozy where the forehead was. Then the bone closed up and the skin covered the face. Blood poured from the eye sockets as the actual eyeballs popped in.

Tsurugi blinked a few times and wiped away the blood. Her vision cleared as she looked for Bankotsu. She spotted him in front of her, mouth open and a bit shocked, and laughed.

"Cool, isn't it? Though it's much more time consuming than Garando's portals, it's essentially the same thing. Him and I… we're the masters of space!"

She dispersed into bits of flesh and bones, the bone pieces wedging themselves into the links of the fence, while the flesh danced toward Bankotsu in zig-zag motions, just attempting to scare the mercenary. A futile try, but it did get him a little agitated.

As soon as one of these tiny flesh bits came near him, he stomped on it until the sound of squirting blood reached his ears. But then another one of the flesh bits leaped onto his body. He swatted it off, while the one he stomped wrapped around his leg. Eventually, the pieces surrounded his arms and legs. They connected and formed a huge, red worm.

Bankotsu let one of his infamous, amused smirk spread across his face. "I'm guessing you're going to eat me from the inside, with your worm thing, right?"

Tsurugi's voice giggled maliciously from no particular direction. It was as if the entire arena was her. Maybe it was, since her bones were stuck in the niches of the fence.

"No… I'M going to make holes out of you from the inside. Let's start with your heart, eh?" She laughed again.

The worm leaped into his mouth, lodging its hideous body onto his face. With the least amount of resistance from Bankotsu, who had gone through much worse torture than this, the worm dug into his throat, almost choking him as it went down through the long esophagus. When the worm disappeared into his stomach, it burst out from his back.

"HEE HEE HEE!" Tsurugi screeched. She could almost taste victory—although she lacked a mouth. Oh well, it didn't matter. She laughed her annoying laugh again and waited for the inevitable scream.

But Bankotsu didn't respond. Like her, he didn't yell in pain. And instead of blood, a black substance oozed out of his new wound. The worm fell out, sizzling and melting into the lump of flesh it was.

"Black… aura. You… still have some in you?" Tsurugi cried, when she realized her "sadistic" torture method failed.

Bankotsu's wound healed so fast, it seemed as if time went back instead of it healing naturally. Obviously, the black aura was a two-edged sword—a perfect way to defend yourself at a deadly cost. He flicked Banryuu on the ground and glared at the fences before him.

"Well, if you happen to die two times and come back to life for the third with only revenge in mind, you would obviously have some of these "black aura" with you, right?"

"Heh heh, it seems so. At least now, we're fighting on even ground. Like I said, I haven't done that in a while…"

Her voice faded as all of her bones and her melted meat flew to the center of the arena, forming her body once more. But there was no way he was going to sit through the gruesome regeneration again.

Without risking another encounter with a fleshy worm, he swung his arm backwards and threw Banryuu at Tsurugi. Breaking all common beliefs that the sword was to fall because of its weight, Banryuu rode the wind toward Tsurugi, its edge almost piercing her new skin. But she caught it with her fingers, still red and without a white blemish covering the muscles, as if she had been sunburned all over her body.

Then she did something that he didn't expect—eat Banryuu. Not with her mouth, because her head was still in the process of creation. Her hands did the eating. The hands twisted around the blade, the bones stretching to capture the entire sword, the flesh trying to follow suit but only succeeded in falling apart.

His poor, poor blade was now half-way residing in Tsurugi's body. The poor weapon, the great weapon that took so many lives—it was being consumed by a mere assassin girl. It was so pitiful, though it may have a great relief to all those that had been slain by it.

Tsurugi, whose head was now seemingly back, returned the cocky grin back at Bankotsu. "Now you have no weapon—"

All of a sudden, Bankotsu was right next to Tsurugi. He had seized the hilt of Banryuu, gripping it so tightly his palm was already developing a bruise.

"It's a bad move to try and eat my baby, you know."

And then he thrust the sword in, never letting go of the hilt, digging his arm into her stomach. He felt her slimy guts trying to stop him by using the same trick she used with her meat and bones. But Banryuu grew hotter and hotter, resonating with the black aura that seeped out from his body from non-existent aura pores. The lukewarm blade was now becoming a sun, burning Tsurugi's insides!

Finally, Banryuu breached her back. Bankotsu stood face to face with Tsurugi, his head over her shoulder, while his blade was shoved all the way in.

Tsurugi coughed and vomited a puddle of blood. Most of it went onto his shoulder. But he didn't flinch, didn't let go of the blade. The flesh and the bones that she used as weapons started to slip down his elbow and into the bloody puddle. Yet Tsurugi didn't cry out or beg for mercy. She just wasn't like that.

Instead, she said, "My, my, my, it's so rude to want to be inside me already!" She cackled at her little joke and flashed him one final, wicked grin.

"Hey, I'm a guy," Bankotsu said.

"A very rude guy," she responded.

"You're not going to scream," he asked.

"No, why should I? Though it may be my loss, sadly," Tsurugi said, letting a mild wince escape her as the flames inside her increased and spread onto the walls of her stomach, "I won't give my killer the satisfaction of my voice. It's too good for a young boy like you!"

"I thought you liked me," he said.

"I do. I do like you. You're first to make me use my special abilities. Did you know that? All of the assassins have special abilities… true abilities that reflect their own partner at the same time. Like me and Garando… we both have teleportation abilities and the ability of supernatural bodies…"

Her voice started to fade as the flames climbed onto her rib cage. But Bankotsu wasn't going to let her die yet.

"Wait just a minute. You made a promise. You better tell me."

Tsurugi let the corners of her mouth fall as her heart began to burn. "Promise…?"

"Tell me how I can become "alive" again!"

Her eyes grew dark and her face red as a cherry. Bankotsu began to feel the heat himself.

"My promise… yes… to become alive again… attach… yourself… to someone…"

"Huh? Attach? Wait, who?"

"You… don't need to know… you… already… have… the beginnings… of it… with… Mi…"

At long last, her body became a charred remainder of who Tsurugi was. The assassin of Dream, the partner of Garando, the flirty white-haired girl, was now a black, clay victim of the Underworld's "black aura".

Bankotsu hauled Banryuu from the ashes and wiped the blood she spat onto his arm on his pants. Then he turned around, his back facing her burnt corpse, and exited through the hole he had made earlier with his sword. As he patted his faithful, murderous companion, he did something that he would have never done.

He prayed for her safe depart into eternal slumber.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Mika clapped her hands together, trying to be kind and friendly once more. She tried to conjure up her famous bubbly, annoying mood and her cheerful laugh. But her other two companions, Inuyasha and the boy who refused to give his name, sat there like stone statues, not conversing, barely even breathing. Giving up, she let out a sigh that had been pressing against her chest and leaned back against the tree.

She knew why Inuyasha was being silent. Right now he was at his weakest point—he needed to save energy if any enemy came after him while he was like this. Plus, he only met Mika once. There was no need to get all chatty with her. It was the same with the boy as well—no talking and no looking.

As for the boy, she deduced that he had gone through a lot, the scars and hideous wounds all over his body the evidence supporting the theory.

Mika sighed again. She bent her head against her neck and stared at the stars. Instantly, she thought of the rare nights she spent with Sesshoumaru looking at the stars. Her body shook from goose bumps. She drew her knees closer to her body and kept on thinking about him. How was he faring? Was Yukuro still traveling with him? Were her children… safe?

Her children… she vaguely remembered him telling her that there were three before her eyesight went black. Before her hand could no longer feel his smooth hand, the hand she always wanted to hold and caress, the hand she thought was rough but stunningly warm.

Amidst her thoughts, she didn't sense the boy creeping next to her. When a lock of his hair touched her shoulder, she gasped. Almost shuddering from the cold she had blocked with her lukewarm thoughts, she greeted the boy with a faltering, lopsided smile.

Quickly, she glanced at Inuyasha, who had his eyes shut but his hands gripping Tessaiga. Perhaps he was only lightly sleeping. Either way, it was okay to talk.

"Hi," she said. "Are you cold?"

He nodded. His face was so pale. Mika made a mental thought to feed the boy a lot of food tomorrow morning.

The boy put his back against Mika's shoulder. He still couldn't face her.

"So, um, what's your name? You know I can't keep calling you "boy" forever…"

The boy hid his face behind his kneecaps. Then he turned to the side, then to the sky, fidgeting and wondering what to do, how to avoid the question. But there was no escaping. Besides, Mika seemed a good enough person…

"Samuru…"

"Samuru? That's… a nice name. It sounds… exotic."

"My father came from the West."

Mika's eyes widened. The West. The New World. A hidden dream that she had told Sesshoumaru. All of a sudden, her interest in the boy peaked high.

"Really? He was a foreigner?"

"I don't know," Samuru replied. "But he doesn't look like a Japanese man. He has red hair and blue eyes."

Mika reached out tentatively and picked up a hair from Samuru's scalp. For a few minutes, she scrutinized the little hair for any hint of red. She found none. Perhaps he had inherited his mother's black hair.

"Samuru-kun, is it?" She stopped playing with his hair and wrapped her arms around him, letting her warmth seep into him. "Nice to meet you. I hope we become friends."

"Me too…" Samuru tried to make Mika let go, seemingly troubled by something.

"What's the matter? Am I being too friendly?"

"No… you remind me of Midoriko-sama," he responded. "I've been hoping to see her for so long and when I see you, I almost think it's her but it's not her…"

"Wait… Midoriko? Didn't she pass away a thousand years ago or something?"

Samuru widened his eyes. "A… thousand years ago…? But I'm still 12 years old…"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"_Kurai!_ Hiraikotsu!"

Sango let her fingers free of Hiraikotsu. The boomerang soared and spun in the air, true to its target, a rotting golden, purple-eyed dragon. However, instead of tearing off the dragon's beastly head as Sango aimed, Hiraikotsu landed in the worst place possible.

In the dragon's mouth itself.

As if the blind beast could see, he turned around and opened his acid, smelly jaws and clamped down on Sango's trusty bone boomerang. The youkai taijiya could only gasp open-mouthed as the dragon crushed her weapon as if it were crackers of some sort. Then, the pieces dripping from its teeth with its drool, he laughed.

"Delicious. Not like the flesh of a daiyoukai, but the bones of tiny youkai is just as good. Do you have more?" The pieces were still dribbling down his neck.

Kirara snarled viciously at the dragon. She did so, because she knew very well that Sango couldn't. No, Sango at that moment could even barely express her anger and shock.

How long had Hiraikotsu been with Sango? Since she could hold a katana and a boulder with one hand. Since she could talk, speak, eat. Hiraikotsu may have been an inanimate object, but it was her companion. She had a special bond with it. That boomerang sheltered her and saved her life countless times!

And all of a sudden, this strong weapon of hers, this companion was crushed by a zombie dragon? Sango shook her head. It couldn't be! This was a dream…

How could she fight alongside Inuyasha and the others to get her revenge on Naraku? How could she protect her friends, protect Houshi-sama?

Then, just as sudden as Hiraikotsu's annihilation, Sango tightened her hold on Kirara's mane, pinching the nekomata's skin. She drew out her katana and took out a small clam shell hidden inside the pad on her left shoulder. Her gaze fixed sternly on the dragon, she lowered down onto Kirara, telling her that she wanted to be nearer.

Obeying Sango's dangerous desires, she flew toward the dragon once more, who was still laughing.

"You want more to chew, don't you? Well, then taste this!" Leaping from Kirara's back, she landed on the dragon's decaying back. The dragon didn't feel a thing as she ran up his neck, only focused on the blurry image of the nekomata hovering in front of him. He swiped at her, missing by a few inches, while Sango kicked his skin over and over as climbed onto his head. But still he didn't feel a thing because his cells were just too dead to send any pain nerves to his brain.

Then, standing like a victor, she broke the clam in half and spilled its contents onto her katana. Sliding over his nose and his dirt-filled eyes, she leaned into his acid mouth and stabbed the poisoned sword in the gum of his teeth. The poisoned seeped onto Hiraikotsu, which proceeded to make the poison even more lethal as the poison traveled down the dragon's neck.

"Kirara!" Sango called out, jumping from the dragon's mouth before he could eat her entire upper body. The nekomata roared in response and flew right into the spot Sango jumped at. Then, using all of the strength in her muscles, she dashed away from the dragon as far away as possible.

"W-What did you do, you…" The dragon's voice began to falter. The final remains of the boomerang escaped his mouth, most of it burned to a crisp by the poison. His neck was now starting to sever from its body. "No, please, don't let me…"

But by now, it shriveled to the size of a mere tree. Still enormous, but not as gigantic as it was before. A sad, pitiful ending to Ryuuichi the noble dragon.

When the duo youkai taijiyas confirmed that the dragon's corpse wasn't moving, Kirara returned to the earth and her original form. Kagome and Miroku appeared at the end of the forest, sweat beads rolling down their foreheads. That meant that they hadn't located Inuyasha at all.

Night was falling soon. If Inuyasha was still in the forests, he was in deep trouble. But the group was tired. And Sango had lost her weapon. These costly issues were enough to make them retire for the night, despite constant anxiety about Inuyasha's condition.

~O~O~O~O~O~

The group made camp. Shippo had already hit the hay with Kirara curled up beside him, but Kagome and Miroku were still up listening to Sango's recollection of her encounter with the dragon. It was short and to the point without any whining, which was very much like Sango, but she couldn't help but pout as she spoke. Hiraikotsu was a weapon passed down her clan and she melted it to kill a dying dragon.

"And so, that's what happened," Sango explained. "I don't have Hiraikotsu anymore. I lost Hiraikotsu to a dead dragon." She lowered her eyelashes, a sense of shame creeping up her spine.

"But I'm sure it can be repaired. Don't worry Sango, we'll recover the pieces tomorrow." Miroku paused to search Sango's emotionless face. "There are… still some pieces, right?"

"I don't know," Sango replied. She buried her face in her knees, beating herself mentally for making such a poorly thought out move. If only the circumstances were different, maybe Hiraikotsu was still here. If only she had taken out that dragon without melting it with her special poison…!

Kagome began to pull out her sleeping bag. It was covered in dirt, but when tiredness started to overcome Kagome, she welcomed the blackening bed. As she curled up in the bag, she looked up at Miroku and Sango, who showed no signs of exhaustion. Then she turned around, facing the tree. "_Oyasumi_," she said.

"_Oyasumi_," they chimed.

And then, it was silence. A good fifteen minutes passed as Miroku watched Sango worriedly, staying up for her just in case she wanted someone to talk to. But Sango didn't want him to be awake for her sake. So in the end, she forced him to have some shut eye and leave the usual watch that Inuyasha took over without any fuss to her.

When Miroku started to snore softly, Sango lifted up her head and stood up, stretching her legs. There was no point in sitting here, going over what had happened until she went crazy. She might as well check out those possible remains of Hiraikotsu.

Sango walked up the road. Step by step, her feet crunching tiny stones to sand, she arrived at the corpse of the dragon. Taking in a deep breath, almost smelling the stench, she cupped her nose and approached the dragon more closely. Where was the jaw? She searched side to side and found a very vague shape of an eyeball. That meant the jaw was somewhere lower…

"Ah! Hiraikotsu," Sango exclaimed, picking out a giant piece of the once proud weapon. A good lot of the flesh and dragon blood had been splattered over it. The lung wrapped itself nastily around the edge. She slapped it off and backed away to a tree. Sango held her boomerang against the neither cold nor warm moonlight. Cracks were shone clearly, the niches continuing all the way down to the cloth that tied the other end.

Then she sighed. The more she looked at it, the more she brushed her tired fingers along its spine, the emptier she felt. It was just a bunch of bones hammered together, yet she lost half of her soul. No, she did lose half of her soul. It was that simple. There was no need to ponder it anymore. _Just go back to the camp, Sango. Stop going around in circles in your head… stop…_

A familiar noise of chains rattling on the gritty ground started to come nearer. Instinctively, she spun around and pushed up her sleeve, unlocking the ropes tying her hidden blade onto her arm. Her face, pulled into a tight frown, as she surveyed her surroundings once more changed when she spotted Kohaku.

Her fingers, which were clutching Hiraikotsu securely loosened until it dropped. Her mind, forgotten about the loss of her dear companion was surged with relief that her puppet, dead brother was "alive" before her. Without thinking about anything, without any concern to her safety or that this might have been a trap, she ran toward Kohaku, tripping to her knees halfway.

Kohaku was dirty from top to bottom. And not just regular dirty—dirty, complete with leaves in his hair, violent scars and wounds all over his body, and one eye punched so hard it turned black. His lips were dry and chapped, while he looked like he hadn't eaten since he died. It was obvious he had run a long way, probably lost and fighting for survival to the death.

He didn't do a thing when Sango embraced him. He was just as exhausted as her, but the scent of her dried sweat somehow reassured him and paralyzed his muscles. He felt warm… and not cold anymore.

"Kohaku… Kohaku!" Sango called out. She began to shiver. This meant she was crying. His big, headstrong sister crying. She was always crying… for him.

"Aneue…"

"Where have you been?" She released him reluctantly and backed up a little, staring him squarely in the eyes. "Why are you so dirty? Have you been fighting?"

Kohaku opened his mouth to answer those three questions, but he knew that would make her ask more and worry more. More… he didn't want more. He wanted none. He wanted her to stop worrying and be happy again. He wanted the ambiance to be light again, just as it always had been when their village was intact and everyone was alive. That is, he wanted to be in the past again. His new, "dead" instinct wanted him to be part of his "past" again.

The freckled youkai taijiya examined his sister's face. Then he said, "Aneue, you have circles under your eyes. That Houshi-sama won't like you like this."

Sango blinked. She realized that being a baby was the worst thing she could do. Sniffing in that snot that had been trying to ooze out of her nostrils, she hugged him once more and took his hand.

"Let's go back to where Kagome-chan and the Houshi-sama are, shall we? You can finally sleep without being afraid of getting attacked by feral youkai." She smiled, assisting Kohaku in bringing up the mood.

"Okay," he said, beaming as well. "I'm glad I'm with you again, Aneue… but are you sure… you want me here?"

"Kohaku, whatever you did in the past was long ago. Even if I can't ever forgive you, I have to. I'm your sister. Even if you kill me and Houshi-sama… either way, I have to forgive you. I'm human… and so are you. Humans hate for a while, forever, but in the end, they'll laugh again. Do you understand?"

Kohaku glanced at the ground. "I'm glad that you still think I'm human too…"

Sango let her exhale come out from her nostrils. She picked up Hiraikotsu and grasped Kohaku's hand tightly. "You're human. As long as your name is Kohaku, as long as you were born after me, you're human to me." With that said, she pulled him forward.

At first, Kohaku let Sango drag him, head facing the floor. No matter how much he tried to avoid it, those nightmares about those days wouldn't relent. All he wanted to do was to never look at his sister's face again and to hide behind his bangs. But it was an impossible task because Sango would force him to look at her anyway.

Because they were siblings. The bond of a brother and another brother, or a sister and a sister, or a brother and a sister is just as strong as a parent to a child, maybe even stronger.

The bond, a special bond that radiated with life, was not easy to break.

~O~O~O~O~O~

And so, the two walked back to the camp, only to find that the others, even the one on watch, Miroku, were fast asleep. Their eyes were shut tightly while their hands stayed close to their bodies. It signaled that they were enjoying their rest and it would have been very rude to disturb them.

So Sango resisted the urge to fling her arms around Miroku and Kagome and tell them how she had found her brother again. Instead, she pointed to a tree that was not occupied by her companions and snuggled beside her brother. She held him close, without any intention of letting him go until the break of dawn.

~O~O~O~O~O~

Bankotsu sat down next to a tree, Banryuu right against him. He didn't care what kind of tree it was or why he was always so lucky to have one to lean against. He just needed some support while he did some more deep thinking.

After all, thinking was a steel set habit now. When he was alive, he always lived for the moment, never dealing with the future until it became present. There just wasn't a need. Now that he came back from death so easily twice, he just started getting ideas into his head. Maybe it was true that a man is the wisest when they return from the dead.

Bankotsu chuckled and sneered at a leaf blowing down the path. Him, wise? Renkotsu was always the brains in his little group. But oh yeah, Renkotsu was dead. Good riddance of a traitor.

His mind wandered to something else. Mika. The assassin was going to mention that the way to become "alive" again was Mika, didn't she? But of all the people, why did it have to be her? Not that he was going to try and sucker up to Nagato either.

But… but why? Mika was… weird. She had frequent mood swings and also tried to be aloof now, but it never worked. She was also vicious when certain things were said…

Just like Nagato and him.

He sighed. Another thing started to seep into his mind. His hometown, the village he had left. Images of the trees and the flowers he hadn't seen in 10 years tried to flood him. Then, all of a sudden, there was the image of his mother. His beautiful, sweet, fresh smelling mother. Wait…

It wasn't the fresh scent that she carried. It was blood. The blood he created when—

No! Don't think about that, he told himself. Don't conjure up those nightmares again. You've taken so much, lost and sacrificed so much to forget. Don't remember. You don't know Nagato, you don't know Mika.

You're Bankotsu. The fearless leader of the Shichinintai. Not the little wimpy boy who… who…

Bankotsu opened his eyes and glanced around. His thoughts disappeared into thin air, forgotten. He refocused himself back into reality and remembered his goal. Standing up, he began to walk away from the tree, going nowhere, knowing nowhere. Just in the direction he felt so strongly against.

Little did he know, it was revenge's instinct that was leading him right to Inuyasha.


	79. The Gamemaster's Final Message

To the readers of the gameboard Unexpected Turns in Life:

That's it.

I'm not writing fanfiction anymore. Maybe one day, I'll rewrite Unexpected, but at the moment, I've lost interest in Inuyasha fanfiction completely.

However, I'd like to say one thing to Yuti-chan, who always loyally reviewed every single of my horrendous chapters. Thanks for always saying something. I always updated my fanfic just for your sake. But I'm afraid I can no longer continue Mary Sue Mika's story.

Am I abandoning it? It would be a lie, if I agreed and announced it. I don't think I could ever forget the interesting mystery premise I set up at the end. It's very tempting to rewrite it, although, if I do, it wouldn't be in fanfiction form. In fact, a while after I stopped checking my fanfiction and writing it, I started an original version of this. It's radically different, but the same ideas are there.

I have a lot to improve and my style isn't very defined. My stories are perhaps aren't very enjoyable to look at and that's probably why no one reads them. Or that, other, more interesting stories come before mine. Or that some people get the idea that just because Bankotsu and Sesshoumaru are two characters in my fanfic, I'm going to write yaoi or something.

Nah… I'm not that kind of person.

I was very keen on finishing this, however. I really had a great ending for you guys and a leading into the sequel, which I am proud to say is much better than Unexpected. And then, there was to be a final sequel after the sequel of Unexpected. The trilogy would then end, and then I would write some more fanfiction related to the story. Then, for one last time, I would revisit the Inuyasha world to tie the last pieces of mystery up.

But time constraints and writer's block stopped me. It pushed me into the corner and kept me there, nagging about all the little inconsistencies within my words. Soon, I began to think about my fanfiction less and less. I stopped writing, because words couldn't flow as easily as before.

I think one fatal flaw I have is the inability to write a draft or a rough outline of what I want to tell my readers. I have to admit, Unexpected was completely improvised and made up on the spot. Once I finished a chapter, I sent it hot-off-the-press. I paid for that. Mika's personality is unstable and she's just too goshdarn annoying. She's like the extreme version of Bella, who I despise with the inner depths of my soul.

Ayumu was just creepy and Kyoko was just a maniacal kid. Even Sesshoumaru and the rest of the cast were out-of-character. Now that I reread my chapters, Sesshoumaru is just so hilariously laughable.

Not to mention my thoughts were often too long and went off-topic.

But it was fun while it lasted. The power of the pen is truly formidable and one day, I hope I can change the world with just my pen. I believe firmly that this was just a stepping stone, the foundation to the place where I can achieve my dreams. I think society is really adaptive—it just needs its people to recognize it.

Again, this is just a message to people that were following my fanfictions that I probably won't ever continue them. If I do, I'll probably delete everything and restart on a clean slate. Although I doubt that anyone but Yuti-chan was reading them.

They really are horrendous, after all.

_The Gamemaster_


	80. Scheme Unsheathed

Episode 80: Scheme Unsheathed

She gasped.

She opened her eyes to a white room. She looked down and saw a board. Next to it was a Grand Clock, its hands stopped eternally at a 9 and a 9. She rolled her eyes around in its sockets and today's date, 4 and a 5 appeared. Instantly, an apprehension of trepidation seized her throat.

No. No. This wasn't supposed to have happened.

She began to breathe heavily as her muscles tensed and shook.

From the corner, a male attendant asked, "What's the matter, Midoriko-sama?" He was obviously quite new to the Higher Plane. No one ever dared to address a Goddess during a stopping of a Game.

The woman wearing an extravagant kimono rose from her seat, mouth grim, and her fist closed so tightly that precious blood began to seep out of invisible wounds.

"That dirty cheater…" she growled. "That dirty, DIRTY CHEATER! AND A COWARD AS WELL!" With a toss of her hair, she slammed her hands onto the marble table before her. "HOW DARE HE STOP THE GAME?"

The attendant, who watched with bewilderment, stood shivering in the corner, wondering what he could do to calm the Goddess down. But as that very thought passed through his mind, the goddess twisted around and melted him to a crisp with a simple glance from her brightened eyes. She didn't need anyone witnessing her seldom released anger.

Huffing and grinding her jaws against each other excruciatingly, she got up from her seat and stormed her way out of the Game Room.

Outside, billions of white pathways to many other godly rooms flooded her view. But slippers made of godly material never led the wearer to the wrong destination.

Pretty soon, the goddess arrived at a dark room located in a much deeper level than the Game Room had been. At the very end of the room was a brightly lit figure—a boy. A boy… that had run away from the Game he had been playing with a Goddess.

"_Kimi,_" she roared, thrusting a sharp finger at him. At once, the room burst into flames and burnt down the walls of the dark cavern. The room whirled at an impossible speed until it reformed into a room with millions of spectators seated on chairs. These spectators gasped.

The boy, whose back had been facing the Goddess, turned. Now, his face was revealed. He was tiny and his hair was a sickly golden color. A whole mass of this hair covered the right side of his face completely. As for what he wore—he wore a gray, Western suit.

"Midoriko. You've finally awakened." His hands came out from properly ironed pockets and began to clap.

The confused spectators, who had just arrived to watch some minor Gods play a Game, clapped too, although they were just following out of fear that they would be killed.

"SILENCE!" she hollered.

The clapping stopped on the spot.

The Goddess marched up to the boy, who was still clapping lightly. Once a few feet from him, her upper lip twitched to the far left, drawing an extremely disgusted grimace upon her face. Her eyes squinted, while her head bent back. Disdain. This woman was all about disdain at the moment and all of it was directed at this tiny boy with long olive hair wearing a gray suit.

"Despicable," she spat.

The boy sneered. "Despicable me," he said.

"Shut up, you puny god. Why did you stop it?"

"Stop?" He shoved his hands back into his pockets and raised a thin eyebrow.

"STOP THE _GAME_! YOU STOPPED THE GAME FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS!"

He scoffed and raked some bangs behind his ear. "Two years mean nothing to us deities. They're more like two hours, right?"

The Goddess narrowed her eyes to slits.

Seeing this, he shrugged. "I got bored. Also, I couldn't make a move. What's it called…? Ah yes, I got a Stalemate."

A hand shot out from below and launched him into the air. As he plunged back onto the floor in a second, a severe bruise began to form beneath his chin. The Goddess walked up to him again.

"_Screw your Stalemate_. In fact, let's use a human term for someone as despicable as you. You got a writer's block? Too bad for you! That just means you lost the Game!" Her boot flew out from her skirts and sunk into his chest. She knelt and leaned close to his face. "Listen to me, _punk_. I'm the Goddess of Games. When I play, I _play_. When you play against me, you _lose_. You don't run away, you don't get _writer's block_. You _**PLAY**_**.**_"_

"Heh," he coughed. "You can't tell me what to do. And I'm not going to play that Game anymore. After all, Mika and her persistence with that stupid pretty boy were so sickening!" He crowed, vanishing from the Goddess's hold. He reappeared behind her, still snickering and wearing the smirk he seemed to want to have against any deity, just to defy and annoy them.

She slowly turned, her knuckles cracking as she did. "You WILL play."

"Will not."

She glowered at him with the widest eyes an angry person could ever give. "WE WILL NOT HAVE THIS DISCUSSION."

"And if we will…?" He cocked his head to the side and—

"Halt it right there."

All of the spectators' attention was pulled to the entrance of the room. There was something incredibly big and filling, muscular and powerful, yet because he could not be seen he was as vague as a will-o-wisp.

The boy lost his confident grin and trembled. He fell to the floor on one knee, sweat beads racing down his cheek and his hands. Only the Goddess, a veteran, was unfazed by the new being. She bowed, in fact, and rose without so much as a shudder.

"Fatum. It's a wonderful time that you've picked." She pointed at the boy. "You have control over him. Tell him is required of him."

Silently, the conflicting presence hovered above the boy. As if being crushed by boulders, he began to lose consciousness.

"Child," the being grumbled. "You chosen to play a Game with the Goddess, have you not?"

He bit the corner of his lower lip. "I have…"

"Then you shall continue."

"I-I have reached a Stalemate in the Game. There is also the matter of missing pieces, clues, regulations…"

"You shall continue."

He gnawed a larger portion of his lip. "M-Midoriko… broke my rules."

The Goddess flared. "Make another pitiful excuse and I shall burn—" she began to snap, but stopped when an enormous, thick, flat palm materialized out of nowhere, signaling her nonexistent between the being's conversation with the boy.

"You shall continue. And before you ask, you shall continue because you have an obligation to continue. Refusal means complete dishonor… I have not any dishonor, nor shall I ever plan to. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded slowly.

"Midoriko."

The Goddess looked onward.

"Are you satisfied?"

The Goddess nodded as well.

"Then… return to your Game Room."

The Goddess blinked and strolled to the boy, where then she placed her hand on his shoulder. He stood and both, as rivals, began to walk. Outside of the room… onto the many white paths… until they reached a startling light…

The room with the board, the two seats made of impossibly silky satin, and whiteness everywhere entered their view. With silence, both opponents stalked up to their respective chairs and sat down.

The Goddess leaned on the table, folding her hands and placing her chin on them. "Let me warn you, child. After your pitiful attempt at escaping, I have decided to win at all costs, without mercy. I will no longer see you as a biding, learning god." She narrowed those eyes of her once more. "I won't hold back."

The boy, whose head had been bent and facing the ceiling, sat straight at once at her declaration, and almost drunkenly, narrowed his own eyes. "As if you have, during this game." He put his elbow on the table, while his other hand touched the Grand Clock.

He inhaled and exhaled.

Then…

"_**Midoriko. Goddess of Games. I solemnly challenge you to a Game, where wits be pitted against each other, and honor and titles as Gods and Goddesses, become wagers for a journey of amusement!"**_

She laid her hand on the Grand Clock.

"_**I, Midoriko, Goddess of Games, solemnly accept your Game!" **_


	81. Episode 81

Episode 81: Mika

"…there…"

…_Thud_…

"…heavy… even… dead…"

…_Shhh, shhh, shhh…_

_DIE, INUYASHA!_

_ Hah, in your dreams!_

…_Rustle… rustle…_

"…Wake up!"

Bankotsu winced as a terrible shudder ran from his toes to the very strand of hair at the back of skull. He opened his eyes to an extremely darkened, stinging red morning, and turned to his right, where a voice had spoken out. He couldn't see who though…

"M-Mika…" he choked out. "How did you…"

She hugged her knees and remained looking ahead. "You probably want to know. Actually, that's probably all you remember." She let out a short sigh. "You lost, you know. To Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha…" The name was supposed to have sickened him, but Bankotsu felt nothing from saying it. Everything was so vague, so subtle—but not in the way that he would be able to pinpoint everything. No, this was a different subtle… a quiet, awakening subtle…

"Why did you go and fight him? You're barely alive," she said. "If it weren't for me, he would have sliced your head off."

"How did you get away?"

"I flew by and ran away before Inuyasha knew it was coming. Call it luck."

Bankotsu frowned. "You… don't seem the same…"

Mika grinned cynically, but silently. She was still hugging her knees, looking at the mountains away from his face.

Suddenly, Bankotsu's instincts snapped back into place and he saw color in the world again. He was able to move his fingers, legs, and he could think. Whatever fogginess that had consumed him had spat him out. What a relief.

He sat up. "Where's Nagato?"

"Don't know. I never liked her, to be honest."

"You think I did?"

"You loved her, once."

He frowned deeper. "What is wrong with you?"

She didn't respond.

"Look at me, darn it!" He seized her shoulder and as she slowly faced him, horror dawned upon him.

The face he remembered was not there. There was not a crying, sad face drowning in self-pity. There were no pleading eyes. No, what was there was a stump of what used to be her right arm. And her right cheek, right ear, and her entire right eye were made of scabbing, pinched skin that could have only been caused by a severe burn.

As if he was so much younger than her, as if he was her disciple, she smiled. "Sorry, but the Mika you knew…" Her eyes flickered to the right. "She's gone."

Standing up, she faced the mountains again. "It's been two years. You were asleep for two years."

"Just me?"

"Everyone too. Asleep… for two years."

"Two… years…" he repeated, in disbelief. He grabbed her shoulder again. "And you didn't sleep? Were you so special you didn't sleep?"

"That's right. I'm so special, I watched as the world turn gray and everything turn stale. I watched as the birds froze in the air, the immobile wind block my every path and everyone I knew stood posed, like statues. It was hilarious."

She brushed his hand off and stood before him for the first time, confident and wise. "On that first day of stillness, everything came back to me. It was like the dam broke and all the bad stuff it kept back flooded. I lost it, I'll tell you that. I couldn't comprehend the things I did and things I wished and the things I abhorred with my very soul. But you know… even as an annoying husk, animated and awkward from the situations around me, I still saw things. I still had to face them in the end. What was I to do for two years? I had no one to complain to.

"I sat down, eventually, in a large expanse of fields and grass. And I thought. I asked myself, 'Who is Mika?' And I closed my eyes and I remembered my past. And then, do you know what I did?"

She held out a hand and a sword materialized. With lightning precision, she struck at Bankotsu, only to stop when the blade quivered at the base of his neck.

"I cut them down. If they all caused me trauma, why the heck did I run away from them? Didn't it just make it worse? Wasn't I running away from my lessons, never learning how to become more than the stupid girl I was? I was running away from them and I was making it worse. But facing them…" The blade vanished and her hand fell back. "Facing them was the right thing to do.

She shook her head. "Why did it take the world to stop for me to want to change? We'll never know. That's just the way I was born."

Bankotsu looked down, searching the grass for an answer. He was uncertain as to how to approach this situation.

Mika continued to smile at his uncertainty. She stepped forward and put a finger to his lips. "You don't have to respond, if you don't want to. I just wanted to let it out to the first person that awoke."

He gulped. Under her golden gaze, he was at a lost for what to do.

Then, she asked, "Want to kiss me?"

With disgust, he pushed away her hand and stepped back. "S-Stay away from me."

"Don't you want to come back to life, all the way?"

He grimaced, glowering at Mika. But she continued to talk.

"I was once an Assassin. That's why I know. You fought against one of them, didn't you? You probably asked and they probably replied."

Her eyelids lowered and she exhaled heavily. "Anyway, it's good that you're awake. I can leave now."

"Leave?" For some reason, his heart began to weigh with a doubt.

"When I left Sesshoumaru, I told him that I wanted to see the West, that it was my hidden dream. I lied… but, thinking on it, why not?" The wry smile faded and she became grim. "I changed for the better. Therefore, why not change my surroundings?"

Bankotsu asked, "What are you going to do over there?"

"Don't know, don't care. So you shouldn't, either."

"I… I don't," he replied.

Mika nodded. "Then all is well." And then she began to climb up the grassy hill, him watching as her black strands of her hair seemed to reach out for him when the wind swept by. But it wasn't welcoming—it was so cold, so lonely. Had it really been two years? Had Mika really changed drastically in these past two years, as she claimed?

_It has to be a lie…_

The prickled skin and the missing arm came to mind.

_It… has to be… a lie…_

The wind came around once more, whipping his long braid to the west. By now, Mika's figure was long gone…

~O~O~O~O~O~

Later that afternoon, Bankotsu wandered into another forest. It was like the other forests—impossible to scale. Once entered, one could never come back out the way they came from.

He found a trail of water and took a sip, after determining it was safe. But in the reflection, he saw her face.

Quickly, he drew back to a tree. The reflection was gone.

_Why am I thinking of her?_

He slid onto the floor and closed his eyes. A butterfly landed on his nose. He reopened them, watching its wings flap out and in. It was so delicately beautiful…

He lifted a hand to his face, beckoning it to cross over. When it did, he caught it with the other hand. He opened the palm and there it was, still intact. Then it fluttered away to another path in the forest. Mesmerized, Bankotsu got up and began to follow it.

As they went deeper into the forest, he heard Mika's voice. She was shouting about something irrelevant, like the fact that fish was the only thing they ate. Then he heard another voice too—his own, sarcastically responding to the childish girl. Gradually, he could see it too. Mika's angry face. She was always angry. Then he saw another—her sad face. She was always sad too. She was bubbly, sad, angry… nothing else. It was always about her too…

She was once such a child. She was once somebody that needed so much care, affection, and attention.

Now, Bankotsu felt like he was the child here. Because he needed care and…

"Bankotsu, _baka!_"

He turned around. There was a stream and two children standing beside it.

"You're a _baka _too!" the boy cried. "Can't even catch fish!"

"Let me see you try then!"

"Okay! Watch the master!"

_Why am I thinking of that?_

The younger Bankotsu thrust his hand into the water and retracted, revealing a wriggling bass. The scales shone brilliantly in the light and amazed the short Mika into silence.

"See what I told you?"

"N-No fair…"

The short Mika turned her face and met Bankotsu's eyes. He flinched, aware of this hallucination, but…

His hand rose to touch the illusion away, and as it did, he saw his fingers trembling, hesitating and the short Mika watching him with big, round hazel-like eyes. They were so wide, so innocent, and so pure.

Then she vaporized along with the young Bankotsu the instant his hand came in contact with the bridge of her nose.

Something wet and _warm_ tumbled down his cheek. He scowled and balled his fingers into tight fists.

_"I changed for the better."_

"Liar…" he whispered, shoving his elbow behind him. A scrawny youkai cried out in pain and descended to the floor without its head. Its brothers and sisters immediately dropped their disguises and darted out of their bushes, surrounding Bankotsu. From the left, another puny youkai threw itself on his back, tearing at his skin. With ease, he seized it and crushed its skull with a squeeze. Another launched itself at him, which he caught. As it squirmed, he glowered at it, enunciating, "I'm a bad mood. _Get lost_." He closed his fingers and its head was gone too.

The little monsters screeched and latched onto his pants and arms, desperate to injure the unstoppable tyrant in any way. But as they futilely tried to penetrate his skin, a tremor erupted from the soil and black aura scorched all of them to ashes.

_"Wasn't I running away from my lessons, never learning how to become more than the stupid girl I was?"_

A tame, almost scared breath of wind blew off the ashes from his body; but before they all set sail in the ocean of air, he broke into a sprint, speeding through branches, crevices, leaves, and greenery. Soon, he pushed through a pair of shrubs and landed on a stretching, muddy road, free of any vegetation.

_Where is she? Where is that girl?_ He paused, scanning the horizon for that familiar hairstyle. Seeing nothing, he swore and dashed forward, forcing his body to forget about any living condition and to only work toward meeting the goal at hand… but his body was so slow… slow…

_"Anyway, it's good that you're awake. I can—"_

"_**YOU'RE NOT LEAVING**_!" he shouted. "MIKA, YOU _**HEAR**_ ME? YOU'RE NOT… YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE SELFISH WITH ME—"

His feet stopped and he collapsed onto the soil, his face resting on the refreshing smoothness of dirt. He expected Mika to come out from the forest right now. He expected to see her bounding up the path, guffawing and making fun of him and his naivety. He expected her… right now…

If he closed his eyes and feigned death, would she come out?

If he pretended to be dying, would she feel a ping of regret and return?

Mika was that sort of person, right?

He groveled in the dirt, the bitter taste of humiliation seeping out from his throat like vomit. This was weakness, wasn't it? How did he become so weak? When did he need a woman to make him feel like he belonged in the world? He was independent and strong…

This was so pathetic… so impossible… yet it was true… he admitted it to himself reluctantly… he wanted Mika right here…

But no one came…

There were no footsteps. There wasn't a hint of her voice anywhere…

For a while, he compensated the thought of decaying out here in the wild—it was better than decaying underneath a million tons of rubble….

~O~O~O~O~O~

Before he knew it though, he was up and walking toward the setting sun. As the sun collided with the mountains in the distance, he smelled smoke. Attracted to the promise of warmth, he made that his goal, walking, walking, walking…

At birth of dusk, he discovered that the source of smoke was a minute, adobe cottage situated on the edge of a grouping of huts. As he approached, an old man sauntered out and waved ahead of him. Bankotsu looked in the direction of his wave… and began to chuckle. Tears spilled from his eyes and his feet propelled him to run again, only this time, he was flying. Before the person he aimed for could see, his fist clouted a cheek with all his might. The person was flying too, flying across the field—but managed to land on her feet in time.

"There you are!" Bankotsu exclaimed, focused intently on his prey.

Straightening her knees, her nasty scar on her right cheek showing, Mika gazed back at Bankotsu, unaffected. The expression was so blank; it fueled the agitation blazing inside of him and spurred ready another fist in case there was a need to pummel her once more.

"You want a fight?" she asked.

"No, I want an apology!" he yelled. He marched on over and seized her collar. "You said you've changed for the better? Don't _mess_ with me!"

"I have," she calmly proclaimed, gripping Bankotsu's collar as well. "What would you say about me is the same as the past Mika?"

Instead of answering her, he hurled his fist up her chin. At the same time, her knee struck his stomach and tossed him into the air. As he headed straight for the ground, he placed his hands on the floor and used the recoil to knock her legs down; however, he only hit one leg. With the other, she pushed herself off the floor and slammed her knuckles into his face. Standing over him, she clenched his collar and pulled his neck toward the sky.

"Well, aren't you going to tell me?"

"…se…" he spluttered.

"Can't hear you," she said.

He tore his eyelids open and shot a fierce glare at her. "Your selfishness!"

She remained nonchalantly still.

"Supposing that your far-fetched story is true… how could you… stay with me for two years… and then _leave as soon as I wake up_? How was 'changing for the better' better? You just grew colder, _didn't you_?"

Suddenly, she closed her eyes and that sardonic smile took over her lips. She released her hold, stepping to his side and knelt. But then she bent over his head, covering the rosy sky with her spidery hair and placed her mouth on his.

He flushed, not knowing whether to embrace her contentedly or to heave her away and call her mad. And while he panicked, he saw every silky strand of her black hair, felt his skin boil against the smoothness of hers and heard the composed rhythm of her breathing. As minutes dragged on, he realized deeper and deeper with each second that he was being _kissed_, kissed by… by… Mika…

Finally, the pressuring heat from her skin waned and she was back to surveying him with amused eyes. He could only stare at the sky, immobilized.

"If you were lonely, you could have told me. I wouldn't have left."

"S-S-Shut up…"

"You were lonely," she stated, raking her fingers through his bangs. "And I wouldn't have left you, if you told me. I told you," she said, "I'm not the same Mika you knew."


	82. Episode 82

Episode 82: The Children of Calamity

After the kindly supper by the old man and his wife, an even older woman, Mika led Bankotsu back to the fields where she embarrassed him with a sudden kiss. She took a seat on the grass and eyed Bankotsu expectedly until he joined her.

For several minutes, Mika stared at the same old scenery. Perhaps she was doing this on purpose, so he, sitting on her right, could see her scar more in depth. And knowing not where else to look, he eventually turned his head and studied her face. He tried to find a hint of that childish Mika lying somewhere on her facial expression—was it the roundness of her cheeks? Those far-off eyes? His eyes ran across the back of her head and down to her shoulders and saw that her hair had grown wavier than it was before.

Then the all too familiar hazel-like orbs flashed in his direction, cutting into his line of vision with an unreadable gaze. He flinched and blushed, feeling pathetic and averted his eyes—but she touched his shoulder, keeping him still with the simple contact of her thin fingers. That hand then lifted to her right ear and swept aside the hair that lazily hid the scar.

The pickled, pinkish scar reared itself fully, for the first time.

She was really doing this on purpose—and it worked well, for his right cheek was soon burning from an imaginary flame, his body recoiling horrendously from the sight. "Stop it," he nearly begged.

"You wanted to see it."

"I did NOT to see it. I was just making sure you really meant what you said, about changing."

In exasperation, she griped, "You still don't believe me after all that drama?"

"Of course not!"

"Then can you make a guess," Mika continued, her eyebrows rising on her forehead in disappointment while her sole arm touched the bandaged stump, "on how I lost this arm?"

Bankotsu shrugged nonchalantly without giving her question much thought. "How?" he asked.

A snort escaped her nostrils. "Before time stopped, I was saving your sorry butt. Inuyasha had unleashed what I hear is his favorite move, the _Kaze no Kizu_. I… unfortunately was caught in the blast." She grasped the stump, no doubt recalling the event. All the while, Bankotsu saw that day happening before him—Inuyasha's searing wind seeping in the pores of her shoulder, slicing her limb so speedily that she didn't feel it until a kilometer away, the anguish twisting her triumphant face and the eventual collapse in the lonely, hostile, unnamed woods…

"But it's all right," her voice called, bringing him back to reality. He saw her face again—speaking, showing the face that was losing itself in its own words. She was speaking, "Losing an arm kept me awake. The pain made me stronger. Just like losing…" Her head bent, possibly compensating. "…Sesshoumaru. Losing Sesshoumaru… made me stronger too. And slowly, by that way, I became stronger, without even knowing it.

"And this scar," she added, "made me stronger too. I got it from my last visit to Ayumu in the Underworld. He ran out of time… his illusion shattered and the Jigoku Shuujin awoke. Black flames were alive again and they licked everything… I dodged them as I ran toward the exit, but just as the Jigoku Shuujin was about to clobber the puny little me, time stopped and I stopped right in front of a trail of flames. It snared my right eye… but like my arm, I stayed alive in the immobile world."

Suddenly, she surprised Bankotsu by undoing the sash binding her top together and sliding the collar below her shoulder, revealing the moony complexion of her skin. His heart pounded and he began to scurry away, thinking Mika was going too far. But before he could accuse of her sexual implications, she brushed her hair away and pointed at the back of her neck. She told him to look.

Gulping, he crawled behind her.

"Remember the scar?"

"Scar?"

"Feel my neck."

"No!"

"Look harder then. The scar." Bankotsu rolled his eyes and peered in at her skin. Just as he made out the patches of skin that seemed to be lighter and deeper than the skin around it, Mika disturbed his thoughts by asking again, "Remember it?"

"Didn't you mention it? During the first few days I was with you?"

The scar vanished out of sight as her hair fell back into place. "You gave it to me."

His eyes widened. "M-Me?"

"Yes, you." But if he did, why was she telling him in such a composed voice? Wasn't this scar proof that Bankotsu was not a person that one could enjoy a cup of tea with? As he pondered these thoughts running through his mind and searched for an answer, Mika tightened her obi and began to climb toward the hut, declaring the night growing late.

_Why'd you bring it up if you were going to leave it on a hanging thread?_ Scowling, he clambered after Mika, folding his arms indignantly. But at the entrance to the hut, Mika stopped and faced him again, almost colliding with him.

"Bankotsu," she quietly began. "Do you think I have too many scars—"

At that instant, Bankotsu had flicked her forehead with his finger and glared her down. "Enough of your psychological babble! I didn't wake up to hear you rant about how you reached enlightenment while everyone took a nice, long nap!"

Her lips parted slightly. Did he finally hit a nerve? He must have had—as strong-willed as Mika seemed now, there was no doubt that tears would be spilling out by now. Quickly, he softened his glower and scratched his temples to suggest goodwill. Words of apology floated up from his throat and were about to emerge, when Mika simply showed the back of her head and entered the hut. Before the chance to make it up ran out, he rushed in and ran in front of her.

"Don't give me the silent treatment now," he threatened. "Or… I'll…"

_Or I'll what? Kill her? I can't… anymore…_

And she probably knew it, with that exhausted look she was giving him. Once more, she ignored him and started her way to the abandoned color dying room that the old couple lent to her.

He bit his lip and spat out the first thing that came to mind—"Are you still going to the West?"

Her fingers pushed the screen door to the side and were pulling it to shut it now. As the handle closed the distance till it just a line, he heard her say nothing.

He sighed and crumpled beside the cooking fire, which was still barely alive.

Minutes passed. He forgot about her… and sleep came to mind. But after sleeping for two years, he didn't have the motivation to try to sleep another second. In fact, he was done with sleeping. There was no need to catch up on sleep he missed from being in the afterlife.

What was there to do?

Resting his head against the thin walls, he thought of everything that had happened the day Yukuro clumsily spilled magical powder over Mt. Hakurei. Meeting Mika, her mirror image Kyoko, Jiro the bat demon, Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha and his crew… The only one he hadn't met so far was Naraku…

Huh… Naraku. He still hated his guts and if he could watch him die, writhing and pleading for mercy over and over, he might just get his dignity back. But to do that, he would have to find him in the expansive, never-ending forests. On top of that, he would need to have a strategy to get rid of the pesky traps, shouki, bugs, detachments, barriers, and other sneaky tricks he had up his sleeve. Just counting up the days and the time and the _effort_ he would need to put in was colossal. And colossal didn't conjure any motivational sensations.

_What about revenge, Bankotsu? Didn't you want to fight for your brothers? Or are you already worn out?_

That's right, his fallen brothers. If he didn't want to kill Naraku, he could settle for Inuyasha…

_He also took Mika's arm_, his cynical voice chattered.

But the primary reason, right, would be for his fallen brothers.

Resolve affirmed, Bankotsu smiled and closed his eyes… however, before he knew it was coming, blackness consumed his conscious and annihilated all thoughts he had. It threw out instead, a new setting, a new time, and a new set of sounds. A place where he could identify the exact bird singing that cheerful melody. Where children played… and he as a child, was playing at…

Yes… this place was home.

It was exactly the way he remembered it. The grassy hills surrounding the village, the butterflies that occasionally visited the flowers—big butterflies, not the insignificant ones that he always caught. And there was a magnificent stream running amok in the western portion of the town, where he competed with his best friends to catch the most silver, the fastest, and the _best_ fish. In the east, there was the line of market stalls and at the end was the washed up shrine that the resident town _miko_ would pray at.

_Why am I here again?_

A merry girl pranced up behind him and knocked him onto the floor. From the corner of his eye, as he pushed himself off the gritty, dusty floor, he saw a shy girl hidden behind shaggily square bangs. But his attention was immediately drawn to the giggling individual that had cruelly shoved him to eat dirt. His hands rolled up his sleeves and he crackled his knuckles for intimidation.

"Nagato!" he cried. "This is the third time you've pushed me today!"

She was now guffawing uncontrollably, suppressing the air in her tummy from expanding by belting her hands on the sides and jumping up and down. Pointing at Bankotsu, she gestured the shy girl over and said, "How many times have we gotten him now, Mika-chan?"

The young Mika, who looked exceedingly uncomfortable underneath Nagato's heavy arm, asked if she was to include the times she was able to knock Bankotsu down. When Nagato nodded, she held out two hands. Nagato shot him an elated glance, stirring up his inner demons.

"YOU GUYS ARE GANGING UP ON ME, THAT'S WHY!"

"We do this out of love~!" she sang, skipping a circle around Bankotsu like a little imp.

Then the happy scene faded into a sinister nightfall, a busybody man scraggily writing down columns in his scroll peeking out from the corner of the alley at Bankotsu as he made his way to the chickens…

One… two… three… thirty-five. Thirty-five plump, stupid, targets. They were going to be so easy to kill. And why was he going to kill them? Because they were _annoying_. Every morning, they made that awful racket… every day, without fail. This town… didn't need them…

The footsteps, footsteps that sunk deep into the earth with trembling power, approached him. But he didn't see his face… Bankotsu ran away, knowing that he had to leave.

The next morning, he showed up in Mika's room, without socks and his finger to his lips. She nodded and followed him out of the house without Omae knowing, and noticed right away the absent morning voices. Her expression was now fear and fear alone, as she asked Bankotsu what happened. He didn't tell her—he instead pulled her toward the chicken coop, where a stench was starting to build up. At the fence, he tossed her in and snickered as she, quavering all over her body, sat up in a bloody pile of organs, disembodied heads, and chicken corpses.

"Now," he said, his voice dripping icicles, "how many times have I pushed you guys in?" And then he ran away—back to his solitary confinement…

The busybody man came that night to check his hands but they were clean by then. However, Mika, foolish Mika-chan, did not clean them… why did she not clean them? _Oh well…_ he was thinking, as her feverish screams down a few blocks roused the paranoid children and the evil spirits all around them…

_Oh well… oh well… oh well…_ echoing, echoing…

"Oh well," an older Bankotsu said, eyes dead, his hand grasping the handle of a butcher knife, standing before his two best friends. He looked like he was going to cry. Who wouldn't? Blood was everywhere—the blood of his other best friends, his classmates, his teachers, his enemies, the animals—all gone because his village was so misfortunate to have been run over by bandits. "Oh well," he repeated.

Nagato, who thought she knew what was on Bankotsu's mind, grabbed for his knife and locked his faltering gaze with her own, and shook her head. "No…!" she pleaded. "Don't do it! Don't—"

"THIS VILLAGE IS SCREWED! Everyone's killing themselves around us… what difference does it make if someone else does it for us? In fact, isn't it better that way?" He flashed the gleam from the sun on the knife in Nagato's eyes while his voice grew more and more desperate—he was asking for a way out of this nightmare, but he knew he asking the wrong person—but what was there else to do?

Nagato only shook her head, only flung her light-brown tresses around. Why are you asking me, she was shrieking as she lost her patience. Why. Are. You. Asking. Me. Now she was shaking Bankotsu by his collar, violence taking over her mind, destruction becoming her goal, and she lusted for more bloodshed, more bloodshed to wash away this town!

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" she cried, slamming Bankotsu headfirst into the ground. But at the moment, he punctured her flesh with the menacing weapon—she caught the edges and held it back, but the blade was already inside…

"NAGATO!" Mika yelled, bounding over the corpses—she was gone too, she had no hope and no life and she wanted to die too and she wanted more death, more death!

_Onee-chan, come play with me! Onee-chan! Ne, Onii-chan, play wiiiiiiiiiiitTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHH !_

In that instant, most of the remaining children wearing red clothing emerged from their houses, bathed in more red, all armed with some fatal or sharp object. Then, as if this was preplanned, they slit their throats or stuffed whatever they had in their mouths and collapsed onto the floor, the ones who didn't cut too deeply screeching out an agonizing mirth, pounding the floor…

Their souls now became evil spirits too, singing, "_Sure, sure, we'll play with you! We'll play with you right now…!_"

They possessed the paranoia-immune adults and made them kill one another. More bloodshed. More blood—more, more, more, more! MORE!

Omae-sensei was tearing through the houses, trying to calm people down, but she knew there was no point to calming them down—everyone was dead, and that dark thought hovered over her conscious all the time but she so futilely held it back…

_Oh well… oh well… oh well…_

Just then, Bankotsu's parents crawled out from beneath a fallen storage case. They came out to this horrendous bloodbath, wishing they never did—and fell again shortly from their very own kitchen knife, held by their very own son…

The injured Nagato watched, sniveling on the floor for Bankotsu's heart so she could crush it, as that desperate, innocent thought of trying to help him faded was proved wrong—Bankotsu never planned to commit suicide… he had planned to murder everyone… because blood… blood was all that was left to cleanse this village…

Then this scene disappeared to make way for an aftermath of the disaster. There were about only ten adults and six children (including the three best friends) left after the bandits overrode the village. The place was dismantled completely—the floor looked like it was plowed everywhere, while trees from the hill above squashed the row of market stalls. Only the stream was dealt with more mercy—there were no bodies floating up the river, just a few trails blood from time to time.

As Omae organized the adults to begin preparing a giant mound for all the dead bodies, the three children approached the bleeding Nagato, Mika, and Bankotsu, who had passed out from the strenuous crimes he committed. Gently they shook their shoulders, until Bankotsu, the sole respondent, gasped and sat up. His foot kicked the handle of the knife he had been holding and what he had done came back.

The other two forgot about Mika and Nagato, crying, "Ban-chan!" and surrounded Bankotsu, cuddling him in a heart-wrenching embrace. Although they were all around the ages of fifteen, they felt so small and worthless in such a ravaged world—especially now that the other children were dead. Where was everyone? Would they come back? They only asked rhetorical questions they knew answers to, but since they didn't really touch or smell their friends' corpses; maybe they were still alive…

"Bankotsu," Omae called from behind. He turned, swallowing up the drained _miko_'s image. Her eyes showed tremendous disdain for him.

"What, old crone?"

Her lips were quivering now. What was she thinking? Then her finger extended from her side and she hid her disdainful eyes behind her bangs by bending her head. "I… I cannot allow you to stay. Leave by tomorrow morning."

His eyes widened. "W-Why?"

"_You killed your parents_!" she screamed.

Bankotsu bared his fangs and stood up abruptly, tumbling his friends aside. "I-I didn't want to! B-But… So did the others!" he retorted. "I don't see you banishing their evil spirits from the village—"

With a loud crack, he felt her hand smack his cheek with a force to be reckoned. It stung badly to the point that his eyes reacted by pouring out a salty stream of tears on his left. Shocked, his head and body did not move from the spot.

"If not because you killed your parents," shakily she murmured, "then for the sake of your sanity and mine. Leave." And then she spun on her heel and rejoined the adults shoveling the hole in the center of the town.

Night covered the broken village like a blanket. Surveying the home he grew up in, Bankotsu made his way to Omae's hut and confronted the _miko_.

"Omae… sensei," Bankotsu greeted. "Um…"

Omae shook her head as soon as he entered "I still want you to go. As long it's not this village, anywhere is fine."

He punched the wall with his fist, exclaiming, "Why only me? Nagato… she should go too! She tried to kill me—"

"She will, in due time. So will Mika. I will send all of you children out of this place. But you, first. Before anymore casualties occur…" She stood and wrapped her arms around Bankotsu. "I'm sorry, Bankotsu… I wasn't strong enough to protect you all… even though I'm a _miko_ for crying out loud! Forgive me… if you stay, I won't be able to keep you alive! Forgive me… forgive…" she sobbed.

"I-I forgive you, Omae-sensei…"

"Then go…" she urged. She removed her arms and looked into his eyes. "Go."

Wincing, he nodded and left. When he was in the grassy hills, he looked at her hut and saw her tall, thin figure watching him embark. His eyes moved from her hut and to the center, where the mound was almost completed. Was his mother and father in that pile of corpses somewhere? Weary of the sight, he wiped another tear from his face and took off into the forest, running… running to any place, as long as it wasn't here…

"BANKOTSU!"

The voice, the footsteps, the quick short breaths all belonged to Mika, except that meant nothing. Omae-sensei had told him to run, so he had to run—

Unexpectedly came her figure then, from the bushes or maybe even the trees—either way, in a matter of seconds, he rammed into her face, bruising instantaneously on the knees and arms. They toppled and rolled down a mudslide of the hill, plunging them into a murky pond. Both wailed as they tried to maneuver in the darkness, bumping into even sharper rocks. Finally, Bankotsu spotted the way out of the forest and rose to meet the dry dirt with his feet when Mika's hand seized his braid and pulled him back into the water.

He spluttered and choked as the nastiness swam inside his mouth. He gasped and hit his chest, trying to push the water out of his lungs.

"B-Bankotsu…" Mika forced out, "d-don't leave us. Nagato would be so sad. Please, come back!"

"Omae made me! You think I want to leave on my own?" He reached for her collar. "Eventually, you'll have to leave too!"

"B-Bankotsu…"

"Shut up!"

She clammed up, just as he ordered. But her eyes didn't—they, as usual, began to water uncontrollably. That same agitation and insatiable anxiety grew from the pit of his stomach, rumbling and making him sick…

"STOP CRYING! You cry for everything and anything! When will you stop it?" His fingers itched. His body was burning now with a heat that he wanted to get rid of. He saw red—his irises were red! _Itchy… itchy…_ went his fingers. A gruff voice shot up from his stomach up to his throat—it wasn't his but it came from him… "Strangle her…"

Before long, his thumbs found the notch where her collarbones met and the large tube that was her lifeline. He pressed on it and the sound of her air being cut off cooled burning, slightly. But the voice was still going on… "Strange her, strangle her…!"

Her lips tried to form his name. Her hands felt his face but his hands were still on her throat. She was despairing and she was questioning the deathly why once more. She wanted to die now… NOW…?

_Now!_

Her leg came from beneath and pummeled a blow to the source of his uneasiness. Bankotsu flew to the trunk of a tree behind him and vomited a red gooey substance right away. Then he looked up and saw Mika cough. A crimson spirit—no doubt it was one of the evil spirits or oni that went havoc in the village—was leaving her body…

Suddenly, that evil spirit soared toward him and swept up the vomit he had just released with its jaws. The vomit transformed into its true form, a minor oni and stretched the more dangerous oni's skin but it was meaningless. Soon, any remaining anguish the being felt escaped through the jaws as a burp. Grinning wickedly, the Mika's oni retreated back into her body.

"Bankotsu…" she called out. Drool ran down her chin and she outstretched her hands. Her eyes were wide open now, like a dead fish.

_She's coming._

His heart resonated loudly in his ears. His head became more lightheaded. She was now wobbling over, her feet dragging through the mud. She was smiling.

_I must get rid of her. _

Nagato's threatening, hideously bloodthirsty face flittered over the young Bankotsu's vision, clouding reality before him.

_I must kill her_.

His breathing slowed and his eyes honed onto Mika's eyes. He started to stand up on the tree and to his surprising relief, felt the icy point of the knife he had salvaged from slitting a thin line of blood on his thigh. Sneering maniacally, he taunted, "Mika, over here. I've changed my mind."

"Bannnnnnnkooooootsuuuuuuuuu…" Mika droned. Her foot struck his toes. Mika's mouth instantly tore into a vile, sadistic leer. "Ban—"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"—kotsu," a girl murmured.

He opened an eye, gradually as the morning light that was seeping through the tiny window was agonizing enough to blind a careless individual. There was the jagged outline of her pink scar. The other eye opened too and he found himself face to face with Mika, almost touching her nose, on the tatami mat. Freezing on the spot for several seconds, he racked his brain for the reason to how he got there. When he couldn't find one, he surmised he had just sleepwalked in here—after all, he did have some horrifying nightmares.

"Ban… kotsu," was murmured again and he saw the scar move along with the jaw.

Fascinated with the scar, he drew his finger against the pickled skin, finding that it wasn't as pickled as it seemed. Her complexion was like a muted rough. Come to think of it, that was what he felt when she kissed him…

_I wonder if I should steal a kiss right now…would that make her angry?_

He closed his eyes and leaned in… only to scamper back she sat up like she had just napped.

"So who's the one coming onto people?" she accused emotionlessly.

Flustered and lightheaded, he tried to tell her that he was not doing what she suspected of him doing.

Mika stared.

Bankotsu swallowed. "I-I… I saw a very interesting bug on your face and he was feasting on your scar so I leaned in to get a better look to swat it off!" He avoided whatever expression she had next by pointing at an innocent spider nesting in the corner of the ceiling. "Oh, what'd you know? It was a spider! Ahahaha, I wonder, how'd it get up there so fast…?"

Mika walked up to him and put her hands on her waist, still staring instead of speaking. Bankotsu stopped making excuses and returned a subdued expression.

"A-Are you still mad at me?"

She bent from the waist and smirked cynically. "What do you think lover-boy?"

He lowered his eyes to her chest and what he thought was a brilliant idea came. "I-I think you have bigger breasts now!"

She stood back up and flipped her hair at his face. "Hmph, I guess you don't want to follow me to the West."

"That was an honest compliment! And w-who said I would want to follow you to the West? What would I do over there anyway?"

"You would get a brain, that's what you would do."

_Aha—this is more like it_, he thought as the conversation slipped into an exchange of sarcastic insults. "Well, at least I'm not _desperate_ enough to look for a partner on the other side of the world." He slyly smiled at her, awaiting her delicious anger.

Rolling her eyes, Mika instead left the room, withdrawing from battle.

Bankotsu stood up disappointedly and ran after all. "T-That's it? What's wrong with you?"

"I refuse to quarrel with a man who can't even kiss me before I wake up."

"I—"

"Although, I could be persuaded to quarrel if we were a married couple. How about it? Do you want to argue badly enough to marry me?"

"N-No—"

"Then this is where we part ways. Goodbye," she stiffly said, bowing to the old couple and exiting the hut. Stubbornly, he followed at her heels.

"Leaving is fine! But first tell me where Banryuu is!"

She halted. Bankotsu folded his arms, waiting.

A breath of air escaped through her nostrils. "I forgot where I put it."

He threw his arms in the air. "Really, now?"

"Really."

He scratched his head.

"It's been two years. Do you honestly think I remember where I put your ridiculous sword?"

"Then you can't leave until we find it!"

"You have no obligation to order me around."

"Stop speaking like Sesshoumaru and give me back my sword already!"

"Hmph! I will not say another word and waste another ten minutes shouting at you! Goodbye, and I mean it!"

"I'll follow you!"

"I'll leave you behind."

"MIKA! GIVE ME MY SWORD!"

"I already told you, I forgot where it is…"

"AND LIKE I SAID, YOU CAN'T LEAVE TILL YOU GIVE IT BACK TO ME!"

"This is another ploy to just keep me at your side, isn't it…?"

"…Urp…"


	83. Episode 83

**Author's Note: There were six versions of this chapter. I assure you, it has more thought than my previous published chapters. It is the least I can do. I hope you enjoy and thank you for waiting.**

* * *

Episode 83: Check!

The opening of the cave at the base of a hidden sandy slump was barely visible, but even if he couldn't see it, Byakuya would have found it anyway. As Naraku's detachment, Byakuya was inertly connected to him. After all, Naraku had Byakuya's heart and Byakuya's very life in the palm of his hand. Not that it mattered—Byakuya knew his purpose was to merely be the puppet that past detachments couldn't be.

To get in to the sealed cave, one would have to shovel out the millions and millions of grains of sands of the entrance. But again, Byakuya was Naraku's child—he had his own ways. And that way was putting his hand on the wall and watching the sandy wall collapse into a pile before him, light shortly illuminating a surprisingly clean, wooden path into the depths of Naraku's lair.

Into this lair he crept, leaping off his crane and walking in leisurely. Once he reached the end, he glossed over his bare surroundings, seeing Naraku nowhere. Then, abruptly, Naraku emerged from the shadows. Behind him lay an unconscious young girl clothed in an orange kimono—Rin—and a girl from Modern Tokyo loosely clasping what appeared to be a worn sword.

Byakuya widened his eyes at the sight and gawked at his master. "How'd you sneak them in?

Naraku chuckled. "Well, I have my ways. And luck," he added.

"Did you, perchance, just wake up?" Byakuya asked, feeling his own sore muscles.

Instantly, Naraku grew grim and serious. "No, I woke up a week ago. I was most likely the first one—nothing alive was awake."

"Maybe there's some vicious youkai out there that's casting a spell on this particular area."

"It's impossible for a youkai to have that much of a range. I sent my _saimyoushou_ to scout for the entire day and the entire expanse of land they flew over was covered with sleeping bodies." Naraku raised a hand to his chin, compensating deeply about this strange occurrence. "I should not have fallen asleep to any petty youkai's spell anyway."

"I'm guessing Inuyasha's group was asleep, weren't they? There's no way you could have gotten Tessaiga _and_ Kagome without attracting the hot-blooded."

He nodded at Byakuya's assertion and continued to elaborate. "Inuyasha's not with his comrades. Kagome was with the monk and that demon-slayer. They weren't too far away from each other." He glanced into Byakuya's eyes. "How about you?"

"Me? I was asleep too. I just woke up an hour ago. And I'm still sore," he whined, stretching out his biceps. Naraku remained indifferent to Byakuya's claim—in fact, he seemed slightly disbelieving. But there were other matters on hand. He asked Byakuya if he knew what to do next, eyeing the sword that Byakuya was always wearing on his back.

The detachment reflected the same sneer Naraku wore back at him. "_Mochiron_."

~O~O~O~O~O~

One thing for sure, there was nothingness and blackness all around him. An empty void in an incomparable size of an abyss. No sound existed and no smells lingered.

Then without notice or a gradual hint, color, scent, nature, and life rushed back into everything that was conscious. The trees, the bushes, the water, the grass, the sky—it all slid back into place like doors.

It was simply _what_ and trying to describe it was meaningless.

And then, memories came back too. And Rin's face—Rin's round, bright-eyed face. Her rosy cheeks when she laughed and bubbled with delight at Sesshoumaru's acceptance of her happiness.

Sesshoumaru sat up and looked around him. That bubbly girl was not here—just as he had expected.

No wonder the empty void was emptier than before; his heart had known.

A voice stirred from a similarly young girl. She had a hime-cut hairstyle, the dark brown fringe of her bangs covering the thick eyebrows poised highly on her forehead in bedazzlement. And she too, wore an outfit from the Modern Era.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help but feel disgust as her eyes searched around for anything familiar and finally settle on him.

She was the first to speak in this desolate, lonely, strange, seemingly new but not new environment. "Oji-san… w-were we sleeping for a long time?"

He turned away, facing the horizon, forcing his thoughts to shift silently to the possible endangerment of Rin's safety. Kyoko continued to talk. She was now asking, "Where is everyone? Do you know where my brother is? Did you just wake up right now? Oji-san? Oji-san…" Her hands hesitantly but surely grabbed onto the hem of his sleeve for reassurance.

In annoyance, he averted his gaze to her innocent brown orbs and demanded her lips to shut right there and then. She immediately began to pout and fought the urge to cry, unwillingly surrendering to his command. When he did not lift his heavy glare from her, Kyoko faced it and attempted to apologize.

"I don't want your apology," he snapped coldly. "You are the last person I want an apology from. Leave my sight."

That was it. The dam broke and she began to shake uncontrollably.

"O-Oji-san! I-I'm sorry! I'll stay quiet, just please—don't leave me alone here! I-I-I don't want to be eaten by youkai and-and…" Wailing a fearful trill of realization of what she had just said, Kyoko's mind went wild and conjured up menacing images of these horrific, children-eating youkai… She fell to her knees and begged. "Oji-san…!"

Sesshoumaru's frown grew stronger. "Do not call me anything," he hissed. Kyoko trembled even more and fell back on her bottom. Was he going to eat her now?

Then Yukuro, the white-snake youkai yelled out from the bushes.

"Don't bully the poor child, you monster!" She tore from her previous spot and stood defiantly before the victim. "Even if it's morning," she murmured.

At her sight, Sesshoumaru lost what little fury he had and returned to thinking about Rin. With disdain, he closed his eyes and tossed his head away from the two and began heading toward the direction he felt most strongly about.

From the back, Yukuro sighed and knelt comfortingly to the little girl. When she cringed at Yukuro's sudden movement, Kyoko clutched her knees against her face and started to bawl without restraint. Feeling more sympathy than ever, she hugged her and rubbed her back.

Then, as all her memories came back, she remembered something too. The three young babes she had been taking care of. Where were they?

~O~O~O~O~O~

Initially, there was nothingness. After a long, long, _long_ time, there was grayness—the grayness painted a landscape of dull-looking trees, a dying fire, a sad sky, and a boy. _Then_, after a long, long, _long_ time, color was restored and Inuyasha's muscles were no longer immobile. As soon as time moved again, he quickly inhaled all the oxygen around him and released it as carbon dioxide. Suddenly, his body caught up with world and his demonic powers returned. He smiled.

"Ahhh," Inuyasha breathed. "Being a human really is tiring. I feel like I've been sleeping nonstop… just like the time when Kikyo pinned me to the tree." He closed his fingers into a fist and stretched it out again into a palm to test the muscles in there and found them to be in working order. Then he remembered that he had been with Sesshoumaru's woman and her new kid companion. What was his name? Samuru?

Inuyasha glanced at the floor and spotted Samuru right away, but Mika was nowhere. Not even her scent, a fragrant perfume mixed with incense, lingered in the air (human scents usually did). Did she get kidnapped by a youkai while asleep? She had to have been—running off still would have left a pathway for Inuyasha to follow.

He knelt beside the brat, thinking that he would probably the best person to ask. With his foot, he poked the kid's stomach. "_Okiro_," he ordered. Soon enough, Samuru stirred and sleepily rubbed his eyes.

"Ohh… y-y-youkai-san."

"It's Inuyasha," he snapped.

"I-Inuyasha-san, _ohayo._" The boy yawned and sat up, looking around. "Where's… Mika-san?"

"I was going to ask you. You don't know, do you?"

Samuru shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's been a while since I slept so comfortably so I just dozed off completely."

The hanyou snorted and stood up. "Women. Either they're angry or they're kidnapped. I bet Tessaiga that she's kidnapped. But without a clue, I don't think I can find her…"

"B-But aren't there bad youkai in the forests?"

"Ah, she'll be fine. The last time I was chasing her, I could barely keep up. But that's because I wasn't trying. For the meantime, let's go back to my crew. You wanna tag along?"

Samuru meekly shrugged. "U-Um, they're not youkai, are they?"

"Nah, they're—"

Suddenly, he cut off his own sentence as his hands felt nothing but the cloth of his _hakama_. "Tessaiga… where is it?"

Then from the shadows emerged Byakuya. "I know right? Where could it be?" he taunted.

"Byakuya!" Inuyasha barked. "Give me back my sword!" He lunged at the flying figure, who dodged him easily.

"Hey, hey, hey! Jumping to conclusions already? I don't have it!"

Inuyasha bared his fangs and leapt once more—however, instead of maneuvering to the side, he reached behind his head for the hilt of the sword he always kept hidden and drew it. The sword was pitch-black, although if stared at long enough, one could spot a few spirals of light and stars sprinkled in the spatial dimension that was obviously this sword's blade. Inuyasha immediately recognized this… and the fact that this sword's blade was very much like Tessaiga's new ability…

Byakuya smiled evilly at Inuyasha, brandishing the blade confidently before him. "Have you ever been inside the Underworld, Inuyasha?"

~O~O~O~O~O~

"Bankotsu… just walk next to me if you want to talk," pleaded Mika, as Bankotsu chattered irritably behind her heel about how he didn't have his Banryuu, how indifferent Mika was to everything, and how he was going to remain illogically indignant toward her.

"And like I've said, I do not—"

She widened her eyes in desperation and glowered at him. "Then go away!"

Still defiant, he opened his mouth to retort, but closed it when his eyes spotted an all-too-familiar flying object—that is, Naraku's _saimyoushou_. It was a few feet away from Mika and its stinger was aimed at them, so it most likely had known their location. Maybe it had even been waiting.

Bankotsu moved closer to Mika, his eyes vigilant on the insect. When it didn't respond to his movements, he let his eyes drop down to the scarred-face girl, who looked back at him with slightly wary eyes. She had too noticed the insect's presence at the very least.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Naraku," he replied. "I'm positive he's somewhere around here. Or that thing wouldn't be near us."

Mika blinked and unexpectedly, in a second, the _saimyoushou_ was snagged by her golden web of _youki_. Then it popped up between Mika and Bankotsu, still flying, but with difficulty in its new sticky cage.

"Let's take a little detour," she said, and then held her hand out, allowing the bug to roam higher into the air until it began to lead her in another direction from her original path.

-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-

It is outside of the Game.

There sits the God and the Goddess, stoically posed in their seats.

The Goddess is grim and so is the God. But then the God sees something that is different. He makes a sound, a "hm", to indicate that he has become aware of something that he did not predict. He looks up to the Goddess, who does not give away anything. She is completely focused in the Game.

Finally, he can stand it no longer. He removes his still hands, which were against each other for several days. "Midoriko," he addresses. "Tell me, isn't there anything strange?"

She is frowning deeply now. She leaves her concentrated state with reluctance and answers, "I don't know if you deserve my honesty."

"I'm not talking about Rules or Obligations. Just the aura of this Game. Or the way it's being run," he clarified, waving his hand over the board. He refolded his hands and awaited the Goddess.

She shook her head, rubbing her temples, although to the God, it seemed as if she was trying to prove the existence of tiredness. "Anything strange? Well… I'll just say this. I did not move my piece for the last two years**.**"

Now, the God is frowning too, in disbelief.

_What are you planning?_ he thinks suspiciously.


	84. Episode 84

**AU: Kore wa Uso des=This is a lie. IT IS ALL A LIE **

* * *

Episode 84: _Kore wa Uso_ _des_

Drip. Drip, drip, drip. The falling of blood and the staining of the floor. The eyes were and had been watching—and then, the girl with the scar became devastated. Destroyed, dismantled, out of her mind.

Empty, too.

She could only hang her jaw low, so very low, her eyes widening so it could soak up the entirety of the scene, while her sword slipped through her hold.

Drip—clank!

Then her lip trembled… slightly. And then, a boy with a braid wrapped his arms around her, because he was ignorant of what to do and therefore, he was desperate to hold her down.

Hold her down… even if the loving warmth she once had was now a furious burn. Hold her down… even if she raged. Even if she thrashed her jaws at the killer and clawed the dripping blood out of the floor.

He whispered to her. "Don't… just stay put—"

"SHE'S DEAD," the jaws roared. "SHE'S _DEAD_! NOOOOOO!"

"I KNOW!" he cried, clutching harder as she shook. "But you only have _one_ arm—what can you do with one arm against—"

She elbowed his ribcage and lashed toward the corpse. However, as soon as her fingers reached for the corpse's face, it slid off like congee! And so did the entire side of its shoulder! Like a broke porcelain doll, all the pieces scattered in directions that shouldn't have existed.

Despair. Desperation.

"No! N-n-n-n-no, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The girl with the scar dropped onto her knees and frantically tried to put the pieces back together. From the front, a leering figure observed amusedly.

Then her shoulders twitched and she looked up, weary already. But at least her face was calm and composed now. Her neck turned her head to the boy behind her.

"Bankotsu," she moaned. "Let me kill him."

"W-What? Why are you—"

"I'VE WAITED TWO YEARS!" she screamed indignantly. "AND NOW, _SHE'S DEAD!_"

"Mika, you'll regret this. Let's just—"

But she didn't hear the rest of it. The corpse was tossed aside and she retrieved her sword from the ground as she leapt forward. In an instant, her sword met an object and the mist moved in, enveloping shadows with more shadows.

A footstep approached the one left behind.

"Yo, _Aniki_. How are you?"

Bankotsu bitterly smiled. "Renkotsu, you're supposed to be dead.

"So were you, _Aniki._"

He grimaced and faced the seemingly risen corpse. "Don't make me kill you."

Renkotsu laughed and revealed his signature cannon. "But you'll have to, if you want to see that woman again!"

Bankotsu closed his eyes, scratching his head. "Aaaah, that's too much trouble. Why don't you kill _me_ this time?"

Renkotsu raised an eyebrow, stupefied. "Come again?"

"I said you can kill me. It's not like there's anything I can do on this world…"

Smirking, Renkotsu lit the fuse. The gunpowder that had dominated the air gathered in the barrel of the cannon—and then shot out as a giant blast of radiating heat. As it pushed away the mists heading toward Bankotsu's way, Bankotsu until the blast passed through his body like a banshee.

Suddenly, Renkotsu looked smaller now and even painfully futile as he held his cannon up again.

"What'd I say about you being dead?" Bankotsu stated matter-of-factly, shooting a confident gaze at the obvious loser and crackling his knuckles. "Maybe I should stay a little longer in this world to teach traitors like you to stay in the ground?" He raised a firm fist in the air to demonstrate exactly how the beating was going to be done.

But there was no need. As abruptly as he came, Renkotsu's color and form faded, seeping into the transparencies of the mists.

He was an illusion—just what Bankotsu had thought.

However, instead of relief, Bankotsu felt a little sad. He sighed and put his fist down, turning around in the direction Mika had charged into.

If Renkotsu was an illusion… could what conspired before be an illusion too? What about the ominous observer Mika chased after? Those being illusions would probably be the best outcome for this sticky mess.

Then Bankotsu recalled how they ended up in mists again, pacing forward aimlessly.

_If only Mika didn't open a door to this god-forsaken manor –_at the end of a cave located in a forest—_ we wouldn't be stuck in this obvious trap! Even an idiot like me figured it out! Why the heck did Mika come in here?_ _So much for changing in two years—oh, isn't that excuse extremely underused? I didn't even want to follow the saimyoushou but…_

His thoughts stopped as his foot hit a wooden wall. He awoke from his thoughts and searched this wall for a way through. There was none—it was a flat board, plain and simple, no doors or entrances whatsoever. Perhaps Mika had turned in a direction?

_Why couldn't she stay put—_

Two pairs of footsteps approached him this time. Hearing it immediately, Bankotsu tensed his biceps and gathered force and energy into a fist. He yelled out to the sources of these mysterious footsteps.

Someone responded, asking who he was and what he was—a woman's voice.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you what I was anyway," Bankotsu said.

Another voice belonging to a male replied this time. "To be honest, I feel that I've heard your voice before…"

"Well, step out toward me and we'll see if we're acquaintances or not."

"Why don't you step out instead?" the woman returned.

"Fine. Both of us on the count of three."

The woman and the man grunted agreement and Bankotsu began to count. At three, Bankotsu and the two people emerged from the misty cloaks.

It turned out to be Sango and Miroku from Inuyasha's group. Bankotsu drew a blank on their appearances, while the _youkai taijiya_ quickly assumed a defensive stance. Miroku on the other hand clasped his right hand with fearless resolve.

"Bankotsu! Why are you here?" demanded the monk.

"Er… long story?"

"Just to be sure, you aren't working for Naraku at the moment, are you?" Sango cautiously asked.

"Uh, no. By the way, who are you two?"

Sango eyed Miroku for guidance. He nodded.

"We're Inuyasha's friends, remember?" she said.

Bankotsu rubbed his chin. "Oh right! You're Kohaku's big sister and you're that unlucky _houshi_ Naraku cursed."

"Now tell us what you're doing here. And we don't want 'long story' as an answer," Miroku said.

Bankotsu grew grim and glanced to the side. "I was following a _saimyoushou_. It led me to this place. I was with another person, but she's… probably ravaging someone's heart out by now." He heard his breath cut short as he realized just how stunned Mika was… and how much her face at that time bothered him. Then he raised his head, meeting the couple's eyes with his own. "I think we've been here for two hours at most. Now what's your story?"

"It's pretty much like yours. We saw a bunch of _saimyoushou_ and decided to trail it only to end up in this manor," Miroku said.

"Where's Inuyasha though?"

"I don't know. He never regrouped with us."

"Hmph. Maybe that miserable _hanyou_ finally bit the dust. Good riddance."

"Bankotsu." Miroku removed his left hand from his right and gestured neutrality. "You're going to go after Naraku too, aren't you?"

_I'm going to go after Mika_, he thought silently. But Bankotsu confirmed Miroku's assumption instead.

"How does sticking together sound?"

Sango threw a surprised look at Miroku's face and then glanced mistrustfully over to Bankotsu, pulling her katana out of its sheath by an inch.

He also grew suspicious of the monk. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing. I'm not like Naraku. But I just think we'd have an easier time if we were allies, rather than enemies. Don't you agree? Besides, we have a common goal; Naraku's death. It'd be nice if that goal was accomplished faster than expected, right?"

"_Houshi_-sama," Sango growled. "I don't like this idea."

"Let's consider what Bankotsu thinks about this first," Miroku reassured her. He honed his gaze on Bankotsu. "Well now?"

A breath of indifference escaped from Bankotsu. "Sure, sure, whatever. Just don't stab me in the back and feed me to Naraku's tentacles."

~O~O~O~O~O~

"I'm getting rather bored with you, Sesshoumaru," taunted Naraku, who folded his arms and smiled wider at every strike the _daiyoukai_ brought down. "Do you not possess any ability other than slashing at me with your claws?"

Sesshoumaru lunged again, meeting the barrier Naraku eternally hid behind. "Why don't you come out of that shell then? I'll bring an end to this charade."

"Heh," Naraku scoffed. "You cannot harm me. You do not know where my heart lies."

The _daiyoukai_ scratched his nails across the barrier, streaking five bright lines across the pink shell. Naraku continued, "Even without this barrier, I'd keep regenerating." Another strike—Sesshoumaru was immune to logic.

But then, Sesshoumaru stopped, a few feet from the floating monster. Why wasn't Naraku attacking? He changed tactics and stood immobile, waiting for Naraku to finish blabbering on and on.

Eventually, Naraku realized this. "Have you finally gotten it? It took you quite a while."

"You've been stalling me."

"Hmph, I haven't enough time myself to waste yours."

"Where's Rin?"

"Haven't we gone through that already? She's in a safe place… for now."

"You've done something with her and I know it." Sesshoumaru's tone suggested sharp daggers, but he still remained tame.

Naraku let out another "hm" and stretched out an arm. A tentacle shot out and seized the only arm that Sesshoumaru had. Yet Sesshoumaru showed no signs of aggression. Naraku pulled him closer, like a teacher scrutinizing the face of a delinquent student.

"If you let me have this arm, perhaps I'll tell you."

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and bared his fangs, beginning to release the ferocious _youki_ he was capable of…

~O~O~O~O~O~

At the cave that Naraku had made his temporary home, Rin awoke. True to the cunning wickedness Naraku was made of, she was unharmed, with hardly a speck of dust on her face. Beside her lay a sleeping Kagome, who had yet awake from slumber induced from the stopping of time. Rin was about to shake her awake, when suddenly she spotted a hideous remnant of a _youkai_ Naraku had abandoned stalking toward them.

In the giant palm of the _youkai_ sat Kyoko, shivering, although Rin did not know why. With surprising gentleness, the _youkai _set her on the floor next to Rin.

Kyoko quickly spun around and faced Rin. "R-Rin-chan! This is where you were?"

"Uh huh. Um, is Sesshoumaru-sama coming yet?"

Kyoko shook her head. "I-I don't know where he is… or _Yukuro-san_…"

"Huh?"

"All of us woke up a few hours ago. And then, that _oji-san_—I mean, _onii-san_, he-he started looking for you. Yukuro-san and I were following, but then… then… we were in this manor that came out of nowhere, and then… and then, Yukuro-san told me to stay where I was and ran off while that _oji-san_ disappeared in the other direction… I… I was all alone…"

~O~O~O~O~O~

_Why won't you die?_

A voice overlapped her anguish. _"Mika-chaaaan! It's been so long since I've seen you! I missed you! I missed you so, so muchhhhhhhhhhh!_"

"Mika-san wasn't it?" the gliding figure called out.

She lashed out a whip of golden light at the figure. It simply dispersed into puffs of smoke and regrouped once her _youki_ retracted.

"I've always wondered how you survived that fall. You pique a bit of interest, did you know that?" Then the shadow rushed forward and scraped harsh marks across her arm. In a flash it was before her and breathing on her scar, murmuring deeply, "Are you by perchance a corpse?"

Her sword landed on its shrouded face. Mika glowered and finally chose to say something. Leaning as close as the shadow allowed her, she hissed her resolution.

**"I'm going to kill you, Naraku!"**

A smile appeared from the depths of its darkened face. "That's what everyone else wants to do."

"**No…**_** I**_** will be the one to kill you!**"

Naraku's eyes looked down at Mika's stomach. "Noticed anything?"

Drip. Drip, drip, drip.

She felt nothing but confidence. Mika aimed her gaze at his shoulder. "What about you?"

Drip, drip, drip.

Suddenly, the mists were clearing now.

"Mika…"

Who spoke? A male's voice—young and boyish—Bankotsu's…?

"W-What happened?" a confused Sango cried out.

What do you mean what happened?

Mika blinked, but her eyes were watering from the searing pain in the stomach. Something moved—they felt like fingers—and she shrieked at the image she was imagining. She dropped her sword and weakly touched the thing that pierced her stomach. It was an arm—battered and wet with blood. Then her eyes flickered upward and locked with the same look of horror a different person than she had expected.

Sesshoumaru.

Naraku never existed to begin with.

Both of them removed their weapons of choice from one another, as if dealing simultaneous injuries warranted a mental connection.

Before Mika could tumble onto the floor, Bankotsu dashed to her and caught her by the shoulders. Laying her on the ground to minimize the bleeding, he shouted at her mercilessly.

"I told you to stay put!"

She shook her head hopelessly and seized Bankotsu's collar. "How could I? _YUKURO WAS KILLED BEFORE MY EYES!"_

Drip, drip, drip. The blood cascaded from Sesshoumaru's arm Mika had nearly torn off with her golden arms. Mixed with that blood…

_...'Look, Bankotsu. It's a door,' Mika pointed out. She released her claim on the saimyoushou and put a hand toward it. Bankotsu caught it and argued against opening it._

_ 'You don't want to fight Naraku?'_

_ 'Uh, no, it's because it's a trap. That guy is great at those.'_

_ Mika wryly smiled. 'I am not scared of a trap. If anything goes wrong, I'll save everyone.'_

_ Rolling his eyes, he let go of her hand. 'We'll see about that.'_

Miroku looked to Sesshoumaru for answers. "What have you two been doing for the past hour?"

The _daiyoukai_ grimly stared at Mika, although he was unsure if the one-armed girl was really Mika. "I was fighting Naraku a moment ago."

"Are you sure?"

"He was an illusion," Sesshoumaru said. "The one I was really fighting was probably… her."

Miroku covered his mouth with a finger. "Illusions, huh? It must be Byakuya's doing."

_After walking into what appeared to be shrouds of mists and mists for a few minutes, Bankotsu made out a figure._

_It was Yukuro, carrying three round bundles in her arms. At their presences, she turned and brightened into a joyous mood after spotting Bankotsu._

_ 'Hey, it's the cute cold-blooded killer! How are you doing?' she cheerfully asked. He shrugged and watched as Mika emerged from the mists and into Yukuro's line of sight. For several seconds, Yukuro was clueless… but then, Mika spoke and she recognized who she was right away. _

_ She was back… after all._

_ Dropping whatever she was holding to the floor with caution, she jumped at Mika and closed her into a soul-crushing embrace. 'Mika-chaaaan! It's been so long since I've seen you! I missed you! I missed you so, so muchhhhhhhhhhh!' she wailed, squeezing tighter and tighter by the minute. Mika did not hug back but she did beam at the first warm welcome she had after everyone's great slumber._

_ 'I've missed you too, Yukuro.'_

_ 'No you haven't! Not as much as I probably missed you! Do you know how cruelly your lover treated me? I had to feed his kids and clean them and everything and he wouldn't even look at them!'_

_ Bankotsu raised an eyebrow at Mika. 'Sesshoumaru has kids?'_

_ Mika looked away from Bankotsu's searching gaze and stepped away from Yukuro. 'Where's Sesshoumaru right now?'_

_ 'Looking for Rin.'_

_ 'And what are you doing here?'_

_ 'Oh, well, when we woke up this morning, I noticed his children were missing. When we came to this creepy manor, I spotted them lying over there. Oh yeah!' She grabbed Mika's hand and started to pull her toward to the pile of bundles she dropped. 'They're right here! Let me show you how they look!'_

_ Curious, Bankotsu crept up behind the two huddled over the three bundles. He frowned; all he saw were rocks._

As if a boulder had fallen onto his head and rewired some connections in his brain, Bankotsu realized something. Up until now, everything was an illusion. Therefore, whatever they had seen must have been an illusion. Yukuro dying… was a lie!

"Mika," he said, touching her head. "I don't think she's dead. Let's go check where you left her."

She shook her head. "I can't get up…"

"Argh, come on!" He helped her get back on her feet, steering back in the direction they came from. Then he signaled to the monk and the exterminator. Sesshoumaru followed suit from afar.

'_Yukuro… I swear you're losing it in this mists,' Bankotsu said. Yukuro flared her nostrils at him and pointed at the rocks. _

_ 'You're losing it! Can't you see these darlings?'_

_ 'I see rocks,' he retorted. 'How desperate can you get?'_

_ 'Oh my gosh, you're so difficult—'_

Drip, drip, drip. Now it was rain. A light shower had begun to pitter-patter on the five people heading toward the entrance of this death trap. When the door showed up at the end, Bankotsu stopped and balanced Mika on her feet, waving a hand at the scenery before her.

"See? Empty. Nothing's here."

Mika narrowed her eyes and searched harder for any lumps on the ground. She couldn't see anything…

Laughing lightly, she fell to the ground and felt relief. She bent her head so that no one could pity her weakness. "Y-Yukuro's alive, somewhere. I'm so glad…"

Slam.

Mika looked up.

_Without thinking, Bankotsu shoved Mika to the right and scrambled away from where they had been standing. Then he knew why—he had seen sharp something reach out for them. But they were safe now. _

_ 'B-Bankotsu. Why did you…?'_

_Drip. Drip, drip, drip. The falling of blood and the staining of the floor. The eyes were and had been watching—and then, the girl with the scar became devastated. Destroyed, dismantled, out of her mind. _

_ Empty, too._

_ She could only hang her jaw low, so very low, her eyes widening so it could soak up the entirety of the scene, while her sword slipped through her hold._

_ Drip—clank!_

_ Then her lip trembled… slightly. And then, a boy with a braid wrapped his arms around her, because he was ignorant of what to do and therefore, he was desperate to hold her down._

_ Hold her down… even if the loving warmth she once had was now a furious burn. Hold her down… even if she raged. Even if she thrashed her jaws at the killer and clawed the dripping blood out of the floor. _

_ He whispered to her. "Don't… just stay put—"_

_ "SHE'S DEAD," the jaws roared. "SHE'S DEAD! NOOOOOO!"_

_ "I KNOW!" he cried, clutching harder as she shook. "But you only have one arm—what can you do with one arm against—"_

_ She elbowed his ribcage and lashed toward the corpse. However, as soon as her fingers reached for the corpse's face, it slid off like congee! And so did the entire side of its shoulder! Like a broke porcelain doll, all the pieces scattered in directions that shouldn't have existed._

_ Despair. Desperation. _

_ "No! __N-n-n-n-no, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" __The girl with the scar dropped onto her knees and frantically tried to put the pieces back together._

_ Drip. Drip, drip, drip. The blood dripped from not a tentacle or sword but from a hand._

Yukuro's body was right there. It had fallen from the sky, like an ugly truth that the clouds had swept and locked away into a metal box. She wasn't broken and her pieces weren't all over the place, but she was definitely… no longer whole. From head to toe, she was covered in cuts and gashes. In the small of her back was an open gap. Her body was slanting from the biggest slash on her right shoulder that tore through her bones and muscles.

Drip. Drip, drip, drip.

Mika slowly rose from her knees and turned.

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**AU: What do you think about this chapter? Did I abuse sound effects? Were my sentences too predictable? I apologize; I've only been reading first-person novels lately. In any case, stay tuned for the next episode!**


	85. Episode 85

**Author's note: This episode was actually finished regularly after Episode 84. But I was mulling over the presentation of it and the direction for quite some time... explaining the great length of time between the last episode's release and this one's.**

**I hope you enjoy it. **

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Episode 85: _Suteki Da Ne?_

Couldn't even spare ten minutes. Couldn't even spare ten minutes to embrace, to smile at one another, to feel enough to cry so that being strong wasn't the only option.

But no; no, Mika had spent less than ten minutes with Yukuro. After two years, anything less than ten minutes was not sentimental enough. Not sentimental enough to have rescued her from a death that was most certainly not inevitable. Yet… yet she was there. And there was nothing else to do, but to pick her up with her golden _youki_ because she only had one arm to support herself now.

As Mika walked out of the cave absentmindedly, she tried to conjure up more than just Yukuro's dead face.

Nothing.

_No! _she thought desperately. _Yukuro… why can't I remember anything about you? This is not right… at least let me cry… somehow…_

Nothing…

Beside her, Bankotsu touched her shoulder, searching her face for a shard of hurt. She did not let him see any.

"Mika," he began, but she pushed him away and continued bounding toward the only path in front of her. In silence, he followed suit, step by step, subtly aware of her surroundings and the worried people trailing behind, somewhere in the far, far back…

Where could Yukuro go? Where could all these broken pieces go…?

Didn't you wipe away my tears? Didn't you protect the life inside me? Weren't you like a mother to me, at the very end? Weren't you there for me, even though I couldn't see anyone but Sesshoumaru?

You've been with me all along, somehow, somewhere… so why don't I feel anything?

Anything… give me something. I wish to have weakness… for you, Yukuro…

Anything… anything but nothingness…

Anything!

She opened her eyes again and found herself in a field of daffodils and flowing tresses and tresses of green grasses. There was a village in the far, far distance, but most importantly was this field of nature before her. Her aching, dirty feet must have decided for her, since her brain couldn't.

Kneeling, she set Yukuro's body on the icy floor and then dug her fingers in the ground. It was getting colder and colder and if her fingers were there too long, they would freeze surely.

But she kept them there.

She pulled them out, along with a patch of daffodils and grass. She pushed her fingers back into the earth and pulled again. Again. Again.

After the fifth heave, two feet came into view before disappearing behind the cloth hanging from Bankotsu's obi. His fingers went into the earth too, gradually leveling the grass with her. Again. Again.

When they made a hole big enough for the corpse, Mika spun around and slowly eased her into the earth. Cold. She was so cold.

She was gone.

But there were no tears to go with her.

Lingering after Yukuro peacefully slept inside her new home, Mika looked at her face, tracing the curves and turns her hair made. Her pale lips. Her bony fingers. Would she turn into a hideous snake if she covered the dirt over her? She couldn't bear the thought and turned away, bringing a hand behind the pile of dirt.

One by one, building up with each grain of sand, Yukuro's fair face faded. The sand trickled down the spaces between her nose and her eyes, down her neck, down inside the roots of her hair. Covering, cloaking, erasing Yukuro's every bit of existence…

Once finished with her burial, Bankotsu placed a daffodil on her grave and examined Mika's face again.

Then, he couldn't wait anymore. "Mika… are you sad at all?"

Mika was pursing her lip, chewing the bottom, creases appearing underneath her eyes.

"No," she whispered. She closed her eyes tightly, but nothing was coming out. "No, no! I'm not sad at all!"

"Why?" he asked.

She held out her only hand and studied it. "I don't know." Then she leaned back, falling onto the grass, glancing at the blue expanse.

"I really thought you would cry," he murmured.

She turned away from him, on the side of her stomach. "I thought so too. I really thought so too." Her fingers closed into a fist, seizing amounts of grass from all sides, and she repeated, "I don't know, Bankotsu. I thought about many things when everyone was sleeping—I thought about myself, my past, Sesshoumaru, even you—but not once did I think about Yukuro.

"Now that I think about her, do you know what I see? I just see her standing on a trail, walking behind all of us, echoing my thoughts. I think she's smiling, but I can't tell. I never saw or gave her more than a second in my mind! I am so frustrated with that!"

"You don't have to cry for every dead person," Bankotsu said. "You wouldn't have enough tears. It's okay to not cry for Yukuro."

She blinked, turning a deaf ear to his statement. Sweeping from the east, a breeze blew the daffodil off of the grave and whipped Bankotsu's braid to and fro, while Mika's hair bunched up around her cheeks.

Then Mika said, "That's something someone as experienced with Death like you would say…" Her voice was trailing off again, her thoughts rampant in her mind and cutting off contact with the world.

"Just get over it," he demanded. "If you don't feel sad about her death, move on. You're strong now, right?"

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Did you feel anything for her?"

"No, Mika. I didn't."

"I see…"

"Why didn't you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Go after Sesshoumaru. You had a hole in your stomach, but that would have been the perfect opportunity to attack him. He would have been caught off-guard."

Suddenly, Mika was back up, laughing loudly. Smiling sadly at him, she shook her head. "Bankotsu, when will you realize? I loved Sesshoumaru. Could I have lifted a finger toward him, without an illusion?" She was scrunching up her face now, saying, "If I killed him, what would I have left in this world? I've already lost my feelings…" Her eyes widened at surprise and flashed to where Yukuro lay. "And now, her. Don't you realize I have nothing?"

"Sorry," he growled softly, bending his head in more or less guilt.

_I loved Sesshoumaru! Don't you realize I have nothing?_

By burying her face in the soil, he affirmed that Mika did not want to make this more awkward than it already was with anymore unnecessary words. He quieted the criticism in his mind and surveyed the background him, lost in all that the greenness had to offer. And then, it hit him.

These daffodils… this hill… the village in the far, far distance. This was his homeland. This was the Village of Calamity.

"Mika…"

Her voice was unwavering and even. "What's the matter?"

"This place… why did we come here?"

"Because it is beautiful."

A smile crept up upon his lips as he silently agreed, fingering another daffodil beside him. "This place?"

"Yes. This is my home. Even though this is part of the destruction we ran away from, it is calm and serene. To rest eternally in a field of daffodils is not bad…"

Bankotsu lowered his eyelids and ripped the daffodil head from its stem. "It's not beautiful."

"No," Mika said, shaking her head. "It is beautiful."

Angrily, he tossed the flower bud at her. "Have you forgotten why we fled? All the blood? The paranoia?"

"It is beautiful," she patiently insisted. "You just need open your eyes to it again, Bankotsu—"

"Shut up! I don't want to remember it!"

"You don't want to face it?"

"Face what? I've faced it already!"

Mika pushed herself off of the ground and reached for his hand, gently and with much care. She was staring into his face until he gathered enough confidence to meet her eyes. They weren't scorning him nor were they forceful. They were simply unreadable, as they had been the past days. If she had been passionately feeling something, surely a hazel light would have flickered somewhere in those irises, right?

"All right then. You've already faced it. I trust you," she stated.

"Trust… me?"

"I was just worried that you were still clinging to all that bloodshed."

He scoffed. But he didn't remove her hand from his. Neither did they break away their gazes. Bankotsu didn't know whether it was because Mika had lied and was searching for proof of his darkest fears… or because he himself had wanted, for a while, to be lost in those hazel-like voids.

Mika. Again, he was confused with the Mika he knew right now. Mika. She would scrunch up her face easily at every little disaster and attach herself to males that promised security. She would laugh and make fun of others' flaws, while remaining intolerant of their kind warnings about her own. And you could see all of this by looking into her eyes. Bankotsu could get into her mind with a simple glance at her body language and her speeches of fervor. She was plain and uninteresting.

But Mika. _Was._ Past tense. Mika _is_ strong now. She had to have started changing. Was it just that Bankotsu couldn't notice her maturity?

If he got lost in those eyes, could he see what she was thinking?

Deeper and deeper his eyes sought till she bent her head, bumping her hair against his lips. Before she could move away though, he brought his arms around her and held her.

"Mika, do you… do you really think I haven't faced my past?"

"If you harbor hatred toward it."

"No…" He held tighter. "I'm not angry or sad about it. I…" The wedge lodged in his throat choked his words, dragging tears from somewhere inside of what was supposed to be a dead, cold body, and took strength away from his arms. But what if she rejected his cold, cold shell? The warmth he was feeling against the seemingly perfumed clothes that she wore would disappear… leaving him bare against the wind sweeping by again.

_I loved Sesshoumaru! Don't you realize I have nothing?_

Why didn't she raise a hand against Sesshoumaru? Because she loved him.

_I loved Sesshoumaru! Don't you realize I have nothing?_

She had nothing. Because she loved him.

_Don't you realize I have nothing?_

Then why did she keep on living?

"Why am I still here?" he shouted, as if Mika knew all the answers. She had to have! She was different right? "I have… I have nothing either…!"

"Bankotsu—"

"I'm scared… I didn't want to admit it, but that's what I'm feeling, right? Scared of dying again… because I know what nothingness feels like. To own nothing and to be nothing. Coming back to life two times… to be constantly given a taste of what it is like to love…" He hunched his shoulders and kept on shouting, so Mika wouldn't leave. "Mika! I… I want to live… I…"

Mika closed her eyes and laid her head against his shoulder. "I can't… grant you that."

_But I want to live. I want to laugh freely again. When I smile, laugh, hate, love… all of these feelings is imitations of what I used to be in life. If I'm not warm, if I'm not freed from these shackles of death, I can't ever move on…_

_ I want to move on too…_

"Yes you can! You said you changed! You said you moved on!"

She did not respond.

"Mika!"

"You don't need me," she said. Her hand slid up his neck and to his cheek. "See? Warmth from within yourself. You don't need me." Then she began to slip away—only to find her wrist caught captive by Bankotsu's hand. They were gazing again.

_Don't you realize I have nothing?_

You don't really mean that. Not if you're here with me, Mika.

_I told you. I'm not the same Mika you knew…_

I know…

He laid his forehead against hers and shut his eyes. Her eyelashes brushed against his eyelids, closing too.

Still. Be still.

And then, trembling, he pressed his lips against hers.

I want to live...

I want to laugh freely again…

And I think… you could be there with me…

Mika… if… you have nothing… then don't… leave… me…

He drew away, suddenly so tired, drowsily tumbling to the floor. Among the daffodils, soft, soft daffodils that tickled his face, he saw her blurring knee… the blurring trees… fading… fading…

His eyes closed, drunken with the warmth Mika and he emitted. This was just like that time he had hugged her without his own conscious will. Bankotsu seemed so much of a baby like this; it was hard not to be hesitant about treating him like one. A tired, _tired_ baby.

Then again, they were all tired. There was no way Bankotsu would ever have genuine feelings for her, in any case…

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**Author's note: P****lease don't kill me for OC-ness... doing my best here. :(**


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